"Crowdfunding has helped to democratise the toy industry, meaning toy designers can now get their innovations to market despite limited contacts and knowledge."
Heather Delaney, one of the world’s most influential crowdfunding PR specialists, will be chairing a crowdfunding panel discussion at this year's Inventors Workshop.
Delaney is vice president of North America at Dynamo PR, a firm that takes a full on approach to supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups, including Yelp, HTC and 3Doodler.
Having become Dynamo’s head of consumer technology, Delaney then launched various specialist branches including the world’s first Kickstarter division at Dynamo, which has since evolved into a specialist crowdfunding subsection.
"The toy industry is a traditional industry," said Delaney. "Previously, you would have had to get the attention of the bigger players to stand a chance of your product coming to market and getting a foot in the door is very, very difficult for designers. I have seen individual inventors and tiny companies with amazing, amazing ideas but they just don’t have the right connections to take the product further.
"Crowdfunding has shaken that up and helped to democratise the toy industry now, which means that toy designers can get their innovations to market despite limited contacts and knowledge."
The other speakers on this year's crowdfunding panel will be revealed shortly.
This year’s Inventors Workshop will be at held at Whittlebury Hall in Northampton on Tuesday, September 20th, 2016. The event is set to bring together leading inventors, distributors, retailers, investors and design students, all of whom are looking to discover new ideas, make new connections and stay at the forefront of innovation in toys.
