Drumrolls and Celebrations for our Talent Cultivation!
On Thursday 13th October, we attended Keele University's Breaking The Mould Awards and were delighted to win the Cultivating Talent award!
Breaking The Mould Awards 2022
Hosted at Keele University’s Smart Innovation Hub, a spectacular event unfolded and the heartbeat of the region resonated with the rhythm of the amazing drum ensemble. A lot of thought was also put into the wall murals of the venue, that went with the theme of the evening. Keele’s business tenants and regional guests had a chance to mingle and enjoy a variety of immersive entertainment and great catering before the actual awards ceremony.
The Breaking The Mould Awards categories showcase a great variety:
- Health and Wellbeing
- Sustainability
- Social Inclusion
- Cultivating Talent
- Science and Innovation Park Company of the Year
- Leading Innovation
- Enterprising Student of the Year
- Collaboration of the Year
Celebrating talent cultivation
A week prior – we were informed - that Concentric Solutions was already on the shortlist for the Cultivating Talent Award – but we never expected to win it.
But win we did, which came as a big surprise indeed!
“It was to the huge credit of our team that they had lived our company culture of helping each other be successful, which in turn creates value for our clients. Our graduates had taken on compelling projects and had been supported throughout by our staff, who had travelled from across Europe and South Africa to participate in workshops at Keele during their graduate placements and ramp-up. since we moved to Keele University Science Park, the spirit of collaboration and support from Keele continued to help us grow. In fact, two more colleagues have joined us already since the awards ceremony! “ – David Watson, Managing Director at Concentric Solutions
Showcasing Staffordshire's creativity
The award trophies themselves were individually crafted by local artisans – and the artists presented the ideas behind each award design. Obviously, it being a big part of Staffordshire’s history – the material of choice was … clay.
The award designs were created by local artist Tom Edwards. The idea was rooted in the Japanese Philosophy of “Kintsugi” (to repair with gold) – very symbolic, and the clay sculpture also honoured the ceramic history of the region.
Driving sustainability
And this leads us straight to another important aspect Keele University is very much living and breathing; supporting the local economy.
The delicious food served was made by Keele’s chefs from locally sourced produce wherever possible. Another mindful investment and harnessing all the regional has to offer.
"Our move to Keele was borne out of several objectives, not least us encouraging new talent into the team through our new Graduate Programme, but also to enable joint research and development initiatives using emergent data analytics technologies, that would help us deliver better solutions and services to our clients. As a service company, we are a people company. Cultivating talent is the nexus of bringing together people, process and technology, in ways that make a difference."
We are proud recipients of an award next to many other worthy short-listed firms. The event highlighted the breadth and versatility of the wider business community in the county, and demonstrated the momentum Keele University was creating in helping businesses, such as our own, grow sustainably through innovation and learning.
The poetess Gabriella Gay read a wonderful piece, an homage to Stoke-On-Trent - a poem of the natural, cultural, and industrial, rich heritage.
And in her words … “the buzzle of change” … can indeed be felt everywhere.
It also drives us at Concentric, to continuously innovate, re-think, re-imagine and re-engineer solutions for a brighter future.
