Finalist

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support of the Year Award

Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Coventry University, UK

Finalist of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support of the Year Award

"Creating better futures for all"


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Summary

At Coventry University Innovation and Entrepreneurship support is promoted in a coordinated and integrated manner by two units namely the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship (ICTE) and Coventry University Social Enterprise (CUSE). A clear and formal conceptual model guides the activities of these two units that report to one person which again make sure that all activities are harmonized. The model starts off with knowledge transfer to promote entrepreneurship in both a narrow (e.g., specialist venture creation degree) and a broad basis (e.g., stimulating entrepreneurialism among students and staff through dedicated modules in entrepreneurship). Based on this knowledge, CUSE assists potential entrepreneurs further on their journey with dedicated start-up and spinout support for enterprises and social enterprises. These two units have consistently performed successfully over the past years and succeeded in innovating their own activities on a continuous basis.

Key People


Prof. Gideon Maas
Executive Director of ICTE Also responsible for coordinating the enterprise agenda in Coventry University
ICTE,  Coventry University



Dr Eleanor Browne
Managing Director of CUSE
CUSE,  Coventry University



Dr Cherisse Hoyte
Associate Professor ICTE
ICTE,  Coventry University



Prof Andrew Johnston
Professor
ICTE,  Coventry University



Dr Isaac Amoako
Associate Professor
ICTE,  Coventry University



Mariama Njie
Social Enterprise Programme Manager
CUSE,  Coventry University



Harriet Elvidge
Business Development Manager
CUSE,  Coventry University



Husen Ismail
Enterprise Programme Manager
CUSE,  Coventry University



Barbara Jaszczyk
Project Officer
ICTE,  Coventry University


Acknowledgements

Funders:
British Council
EU funding
European Social Fund
European Commission

Images

Students on our BA Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and our BA Top-up in Business Enterprise and Innovation Management participate in a virtual reality student engagement and entrepreneurship community building event.

The ICTE BA Enterprise and Entrepreneurship students building their final year dissertations topics in Lego with resources provided by the Disruptive Media Learning Lab.

The ICTE BA Enterprise and Entrepreneurship students building their final year dissertations topics in Lego with resources provided by the Disruptive Media Learning Lab

Not even a pandemic could stop ICTE presenting international think tanks.

Student Social Entrepreneur and former Enactus Coventry President Pavani Konda presenting to fellow students about the benefits of joining Enactus

Expert Panellists (L-R) – Karl Lokko, Adrienne Herbert and Alex Maitland sharing their personal stories with our students during the LaunchFest event

International speaker, Author and change-agent Hayley Mulenda presenting her personal experience in overcoming Mental Health to become an advocate and adviser to employers for supporting Young people into the world of work.

Student Volunteer welcoming guests to the LaunchFest Inspire Me event

Activist, Influencer and Poet Karl Lokko inspiring our students and telling his story about how he turned his life around to become a Youth Mentor and activist

Omar Sharif (Director of Omar Inspires) giving his Keynote speech at the Inspire Me Youth Engagement event

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

1. Having been granted asylum in the UK, Andre* was facing the substantial barrier of job-search in English, which is not his first language. Andre's long-term ambition was to build a social enterprise and improve lives by inspiring others through his love of music and the arts.New business start-up support was provided on a one-to-one basis, including sessions on legal structure, marketing and networking, finance, and pitching for grant funding. In addition to this, Andre was supported with CV building workshop, English language coaching in the context of business, basic IT skills to aid job-search and applications, and assistance with understanding formal correspondence from government. As a result of the support received, Andre has now registered a new social enterprise on Companies House. Andre aims to make this a social enterprise to benefit and support other immigrants to the UK.
(*Name has been changed to protect the anonymity of the participant).
2. Skyfarer is building a blueprint for a revolution that will change the way we think about delivery by adding a new height dimension to our roads, rails and waters. Their current roadmap is taking the team on a flight path destined to support in the transportation of vital medical payloads such as blood, pharmaceuticals, vaccinations and aseptic equipment. Now based at Warwick Science Park and with a world class consortium of partners including Coventry University, NHS and Cranfield University, Elliot and his team are on their way to becoming world leaders in drone technology to save lives!

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

Key learnings in the process of Innovation and Entrepreneurship support include, inter alia, the importance of a sound knowledge basis of enterprise and entrepreneurship, the necessity of champions in all areas of the university and the need to coordinate and utilise resources regarding entrepreneurial activities more optimally. The latter has given rise to the first conceptual model for a Coventry University ecosystem. This model acted as a focal point for various activities undertaken by Coventry University such as bidding activities, revisiting the entrepreneurship curriculum and supporting student entrepreneurs financially through the Student Enterprise Fund (SEF). Due to new challenges (such as Covid19), it is accepted that a new form of promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship should be created. Therefore, it is essential that the way universities support Innovation and Entrepreneurship is not a static process but regarded as a journey into creating better futures for all.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

Coventry University is busy with a review on how to shape Innovation and Entrepreneurship support for the future. This report will be available mid-June and will act as a basis for a modernised system to be implemented December 2022. Various focus areas will exist for the new enterprise agenda namely Knowledge transfer (e.g., developing entrepreneurial behaviour and skills, support staff in teaching in an entrepreneurial manner), Research (e.g., supporting the entrepreneurial researcher on identifying specific spin-out ideas and improving the total entrepreneurial ecosystem in regions), Start-up activities (e.g., support for opportunity and life-style business support and social enterprises), and Spin-out activities (e.g., commercialisation of research activities within Coventry University). These activities will be available for all Coventry University satellite areas (e.g., currently 7 nationally and internationally).

KEY STATISTICS

7765

Total number of participants

£5.2m

Combined turnover – ICTE and CUSE

40

Number of staff involved

ICTE + CUSE

Partners involved

13%

Increase in entrepreneurial abilities

Triple E Awards

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

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