Manchester: Triple Win for University of Manchester team in YES19 Competition

Team Larvita (pictured above), swept the boards at the YES19 Final in December held at the Royal Society also winning two other awards for; Best Plant, Microbial and Environmental Business (sponsored by Syngenta) and the People’s Choice Award (sponsored by Indigo). The Masood Enterprise Centre (MEC) actively encourages and supports entrepreneurs from across the campus to engage with external entrepreneurial activities. This in parallel to the Centre’s programme of in-house enterprise teaching, learning, business start-up support and acceleration helps entrepreneurs to capitalise on turning their real ideas into successful market opportunities. Full story here.

 

Buckingham: First year of impact for new Enterprise Hub

The University of Buckingham’s Enterprise and Innovation Unit (BEIU) is now a year into the most exciting phase in its history. In November 2018 they moved into a new Enterprise Hub in the Vinson Centre for Economics and Entrepreneurship. This project was jointly funded by Lord Nigel Vinson, Bucks Local Enterprise Partnership and the University’s alumna, Susanne Klatten, heiress to BMW. The combined value of their individual gifts amounted to more than £10 million. This opportunity has enabled Buckingham to do more than at any time in the department’s history to better promote and develop enterprise education during a busy and exciting year. Pictured is Akeley Wood School participating in EntFest. Click here for the full impact report.

 

Open University: SimVenture Validate platform proves popular

The Open University is working with SimVenture’s Validate platform to run their yearly Student Entrepreneurship Competition. The Validate tools offer a brilliant way for our distance learning students to develop their business model canvases at their own pace and works well alongside our open educational resource for entrepreneurs that was launched last year with funding from Santander Universities. This resource has been accessed over 3000 times since publication. It is still early days in our competition but we hope to see more inspiring winners growing their businesses later this year.

 

Loughborough: Sprint Women’s Development Programme

In December Loughborough Enterprise Network held its first Sprint Women’s Development Programme for enterprising female students on their London campus.19 students came together to develop their confidence, consider their own personal brands, harness their personal power, as well as to support one another, leverage networks, embrace change and manage stressful situations. As a result, all students felt better equipped for their personal and professional lives with clear goals to work towards and a community of like-minded women to support them. One student wrote: “I feel very lucky to be in the first group and the course was great. It made us feel focused and comfortable. I hope more students will join this group of strong women and be open and confident!”

 

7 go to Babson!

7 UK Enterprise Educators selected for Santander Universities Academic Entrepreneurs Programme at Babson College, Global Leader in Entrepreneurship Education, joined just 23 others from Spain, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and the Canaries in Massachusetts in November 2019. Immersing themselves in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Babson College, facilitated by Professors Heidi Neck and Candida Brush were Marek Tokarski (Durham University), Steve Aicheler (Cardiff Metropolitan University) Chris Shannon (Ulster University) Judith Maguire (Queen’s University Belfast), Diana Pasek-Atkinson (Nottingham Trent University), Natasha Lobley (Heriot-Watt University) and Nick Fannin (Edinburgh Napier University). After an intensive week of workshops and discussions with Babson faculty and senior leaders, entrepreneurs and investors and best practice presentations from fellow participants, the UK delegation returned feeling inspired and motived to bring a little bit of Babson magic back to their universities! Read Diana’s article (via LinkedIn) and Nick’s article to find out more.