Last week London Innovators held the Innovator of the Year awards at IBM South Bank

Celebrating some of the pioneering startups coming out of London today, in fields from fashion and technology through to farming, the Innovator of the Year awards featured some of the most ingenious entrepreneurs around, with the top prize going to What3Words – a three word address system that can identify any location on the planet. The competition was strong, with Douglas Bell – London Innovator’s founder – stating that it was evidence of how alive the London startup scene is today.

We held a panel discussion with some of the prize’s judges, investigating the way that disruption and creativity are intertwined, and how disruptive thinking can lead to innovation. Protein's CEO William Rowe started the discussion by asking what lessons can be learnt from those doing it badly.

“With any kind of disruption, once you fall in love with it you have to do it”, said Miriam Lahage, Chief Merchant of plus-size womenswear e-tailer Navabi and former Vice President of fashion at eBay.

Julien Decot, ex Director of Skype and founder of TextMe, echoed her positive take on disruption as an element of creativity. “When someone really wants to do something, they forget that it’s impossible and get it done”, he said, “the limit is your imagination.”

Entrepreneur Julien Levy, who is ex Head of Innovation at Bank of America, emphasised that disruptive doesn’t necessarily mean impractical. Sometimes it’s a necessity, “disruption is just execution based on current needs.”