Plymouth: Techstars Startup Weekend returns

The Techstars Startup Weekend (pictured above) returns to Plymouth in November to help budding entrepreneurs develop their business ideas in a special Techstars Global Women’s Edition. Plymouth Startup Weekend Women’s Edition is designed to engage more entrepreneurs and will be focused on empowering more women within our community to lend their voice to innovation. Register your interest in Plymouth Startup Weekend Women’s Edition here! The event is being run by the University of Plymouth’s The Bridge initiative alongside Global startup support company Techstars and is part of the iMayflower project. Find out more here.

 

Glasgow: Reflections on a university start-up programme published

Colin Mason and colleagues at the University of Glasgow have published a paper in volume 35 (1), 2020 in Local Economy which describes the outcomes of an ongoing small-scale student business start-up programme at their University, and reflects on some wider lessons concerning the objectives, design and evaluation of such programmes and the need to be part of a the wider university entrepreneurial ecosystem. The study also emphasises the need for such programmes to be embedded into the wider local, regional and national entrepreneurial ecosystems. This final point is further developed in an article, “It takes an ecosystem to raise a successful start-up”, in The Conversation.

 

UCL: 550 PhD students engage in entrepreneurial mindset development

UCL Innovation & Enterprise witness 550 PhD students over 18 months engage in entrepreneurial mindset development through a programme of dedicated extracurricular workshops to help Doctoral students think and act like entrepreneurs by developing their skills to spot opportunities, generate ideas and maximise resources. Three levels of training support the journey from ‘Discovery’ taster sessions to more ‘Advanced’ workshops which delve deeper into the key concepts for early-stage enterprise creation, through a combination of didactic teaching and hands-on activities. The skills learned contribute to the overarching development and employability of the UCL doctoral students both within and outside-of academia.

 

Wolverhampton: Support secured for ‘designer makers’

The University of Wolverhampton’s Enterprise Department has been successful in securing support from eBay Fire-Up and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, enabling them to assist a number of student and graduate ‘designer-makers’ to launch their own enterprise. The successful applicants will receive support via workshops, 1:1 consultancy and an award of £1250. eBay Fire-Up will support eight new retail-based businesses. By supporting this sector, and in particular those creating their own products and bringing them to market, it is believed that students and graduates will be able to generate income speedily. Winners of eBay Fire-Up will be announced in May 2020.

 

Swansea: 2019 impact follows new strategy

In November 2018, Swansea University released its first Student Enterprise Strategy, setting out the vision of the University to become more entrepreneurial in the way that students are taught but also supported outside the curriculum to exercise their Entrepreneurial mindsets, skills and behaviours. In 2019, Swansea University has worked to create a safe, connected and supportive entrepreneurial environment; as a result 40 Students started businesses, 9010 engaged with Enterprise and 50 Staff are championing the Enterprise agenda around the university and their subject areas. To read more about the achievements of 2019 please see the Swansea University Student Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Impact Report