Category / Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

Resources for corporate-start up collaboration

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Download the tools created from research on corporate-start-up collaborations with the Startup Europe Partnership.

As a corporate, why would you consider working with startups? What are the benefits and risks involved? How can programmes be structured in order to engage with them?

And, as a startup, howwould you  approach corporates? What’s the best way to present your  project?

If you have found yourself asking these questions, then the ‘What Works’ online repository is for you.

Find out more.

Innovate 2016 – The Global Spotlight on UK Innovation

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Innovate 2016 will be held at Manchester Central on the 2nd – 3rd November 2016.

Take part in the global showcase of UK innovation, hear from global thought-leaders and create real business opportunities at Innovate 2016. Find out about today’s business opportunities and future-looking trends across manufacturing, health, cities of the future and technologies of the future.

Hear from industry-leaders on topics such as:

  • Retaining the edge with disruptive business models
  • Manufacturing: Tackling the productivity gap
  • Implementing resilience in a city of the future
  • Next-generation medicine: The UK as a world leader
  • Emerging technologies revolutionising innovation

View the full agenda.

Inspirational speakers
Hear from top-level inspirational speakers from organisations including:  Siemens, Versarien, Amazon, University of Manchester, Hyperloop One, High Value Manufacturing Catapult and of course Innovate UK CEO Dr Ruth McKernan CBE and Catherine Raines, CEO from the Department for International Trade.
Support zone

Discover the breadth of funding and support for businesses  and meet with the organisations that exist to help business thrive. The Support Zone will be back featuring among others the UK Business Angels Association, British Business Bank, HMRC and Growth Hubs.

Register and find out more.

 

How can augmented reality and virtual reality transform the retail journey?

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Startups, innovative retailers and experts with an understanding of the retail landscape to get involved with  the  Visa Retail Pit Stop  This takes place on 6  – 7 October.

Attendees will get the opportunity to investigate how virtual reality and augmented reality, ambient data capture, mobile and sensor technologies can improve the customer experience. Register your interest before 13 September.

Submit your interest for the Visa Retail Pit Stop

Friday 16th September: Professor Christoph Teller presents ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

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Professor Christoph Teller, Chair in Retailing and Marketing at the University of Surrey, will discuss why shoppers shop where they do through a presentation of a meta-analyses study.  The study he presents aims to identify the major antecedents of offline and online retail patronage. In his talk he will outline the retail patronage work of Pan and Zinkhan (2006) and discuss how he extends their view and develops conceptual models of offline and online retail patronage based on Sheth’s (1999) integrated theory of patronage behaviour and Finn and Louviere’s (1996) specification in a retail patronage context. The models he identifies proposes direct effects between antecedents (stimuli), i.e., mainly manageable attributes of retailers, and the retail patronage (response or shopping predisposition). The study is based upon a meta-analysis of more than 300 empirical studies and makes a theoretical as well as practical contribution to the topic area as it provides an overview on, and detailed insights into, patronage research in an offline as well as online context.

This free event, hosted by the Influences on Consumer Behaviour Research Cluster, will take place on Friday 16th September 2016, 2-3.30pm in the Inspire Lecture Theatre.  Please book your place through Eventbrite: ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

Business practitioners’ perspectives on the value of mobile technology: New Paper published by Dr Elvira Bolat

Dr. Elvira Bolat in the Faculty of Management published her latest paper today in the Journal of Customer Behaviour. This paper focuses on one of the issues Dr. Bolat has explored in her PhD thesis – values deriving from mobile technology use. No existing research maps and discusses holistically the values deriving from mobile technology use, capturing both strategic and operational opportunities, which are most likely to emerge in the business-to-business (B2B) context. This empirical paper addresses this gap. An adapted grounded theory approach is applied to collect and analyse in-depth interviews with 28 B2B practitioners from advertising and marketing firms. Whether mobile technology is a simple means to advanced communication with no physical boundaries of time and location, or a business tool to boost creative thinking, this study concludes that mobile technology represents a novel and unique category of technology because of its core distinctive feature, ‘being mobile’. B2B practitioners argue that the true nature of mobile technology lies in seeing it as a source of value that derives from using mobile technology. B2B practitioners view mobile technology not only as a purely technical tool (functional value) enabling effective communication (social value) but as a strategic tool driving balanced and flexible ways in managing business (emotional value) and enabling creative thinking (creative value). Additionally, mobile technology has enabled businesses move to online payments which helps them reach more customers. Merchant account services encompass a range of solutions designed to support businesses in processing electronic payments.

Full reference to the article: Bolat, E., 2016. Business practitioners’ perspectives on the value of mobile technology. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 15 (1), 31-48.

Read full paper at http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/147539216X14594362873451

New Paper by Dr Elvira Bolat and BA (Hons) Business Studies Graduate Jack Strong

Dr. Elvira Bolat and her research supervisee, Jack Strong (BA Business Studies 2015 graduate), in the Faculty of Management published her latest paper today in the Journal of Customer Behaviour. The paper is more focused version of Jack’s final year research project which focused on Panasonic where Jack had done his placement during the third year of the studies. This paper explores customers’ perspectives on branding and the role of digital technologies in Business-to-Business context. Branding is a well-researched notion in the business-to-customer (B2C) environment but a concept which is unexplored in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Conceptually, similar to B2C organisations, digital communication via digital tools and devices allows B2B organisations to experience the benefits of exposing their brands to a wider audience. In reality, questions of whether branding is purposeful in the B2B context and what role digital technologies play in B2B branding remain open. This study explores branding in the B2B context, using Panasonic as a case study, to consider the value of B2B branding from the B2B customer (buyer) perspective. Results indicate that B2B branding is of importance in the B2B context, in particular for an organisation such as Panasonic where reputation is a driving force in attracting new B2B customers and nurturing long-term relationships with existing B2B customers. Moreover, this study concludes that whilst use of digital technologies enables the portrayal of brand perceptions of Panasonic, digital technologies have yet to be fully embraced for the purpose of branding in the B2B context.

Full reference to the article: Strong, J. and Bolat, E., 2016. A qualitative inquiry into customers’ perspectives on branding and the role of digital technologies in B2B: A case study of Panasonic. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 15 (1), 97-116.

Read full paper at http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/147539216X14594362873613

ColLab Festival – Showcasing digital innovation, growth and collaboration across the UK

 

ColLab Festival (19-23 September) is a jam-packed week of events , aiming to explore the current landscape of the UK’s digital economy.

During the week, you’ll get the chance to discuss where global tech investment lies, understand virtual reality opportunities, learn how you can work with the Catapult family and much more.

Click the link  below to see all  the  ColLab Festival events. Hurry – places will go fast for these sessions, so book now to avoid disappointment.

Click here for more information.

 

 

Creative Industries – new 5 year strategy

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The Creative Industries Council’s new 5 year strategy proclaims amazing news for the Creative Industries. With the sector growing at 8.9% a year (making it the second fastest growing sector), the UK’s Creative Industries is vital to the UK’s economy.

The 2016 strategy refresh is demanding but attainable, with a focus on driving economic value, through support for business growth, job growth, exports and inward investment.  The sector seeks to build on existing trade relationships and to unlock the potential of the sector in international markets with a primary focus on the USA and key territories in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Review the Nesta/Creative England report on the Geography of Creativity . This includes rich content about  regional opportunities.

New business and university collaboration platform

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konfer has been developed to faciliate easier access to the university sector for the business community, by collating a large amount of information all on one platform. UK universities are bursting with innovation  and  world-class academics who are keen to collaborate with industry, charities and the public sector.

konfer was created by the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) to make this astonishing wealth of expertise and resources more accessible. Working in partnership with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Research Councils UK (RCUK), konfer brings knowledge and growth to businesses, valuable exposure for university talent, and future prosperity for the UK.

 

When a business owner spots an opportunity, konfer supports the journey from finding a research partner and funding to planning and co-creation. It does this by giving direct access to:

  • 8000 academics
  • 11,000 facility and equipment listings
  • 800,000 web pages from university sites and social media
  • 22,000 YouTube videos from university channels
  • 10,000 news, funding and events articles from curated feeds
  • 50,000 publicly funded research projects

konfer brings knowledge and growth to businesses, valuable exposure for university talent, and future strength for the UK economy.

Learn more

 

NCUB want  konfer to be as useful as possible, so  access to the  Alpha version of the site is available. No need for passwords or user names – just dive straight in. https://konfer.online

This means things may be a little rough around the edges and there may be some bugs to be  squished ! But,  hope  by sharing the site early,  hope to consider suggestions fro improvements. Planned live date is erly in the New Year.  Feedback can be emailed  konfer@ncub.co.uk . For more information on this platform and NCUB in general contact Jayne Codling within RKEO.

Big data – helping cities solving planning challenges

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A data platform developed with support of Innovate UK is helping big cities to plan services such as transport, education and housing.

A data science business is helping London to plan its services thanks to a new decision-making platform. Mastodon C won a £2 million SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) contract in a ‘future cities’ competition to find ways of meeting the challenges faced by urban areas.

Mastodon C is working with the Greater London Authority to develop and test its Witan platform in a project supported by Innovate UK.

Witan provides modelling tools and data management processes to help solve real challenges faced by cities and their partners, and is already being used by 33 London boroughs. Witan is being used by the London boroughs to see how latest housing projections will affect the spread of population up to 2041. The work used to take specialist staff weeks to do but can now be generated in minutes. The results will help council officials to plan many services including where the demand is likely to be for services such as school places, waste disposal, and housing.

Francine Bennett, chief executive and co-founder of Mastodon C, said: “Our motto is ‘big data done better’. That has two meanings. What we do with big data, we do very well technically. We are also interested in better applications of big data and data science, building applications that improve people’s lives as well as work for the business.”

Click here for the full story.

 

 

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Retaining Special Constables…Myth v Reality!

Hard at Work...Analysing Interview Data!

Hard at Work…Mapping Interview Data!

Dr Lois Farquharson is working on an exciting research project for Dorset Police and Devon & Cornwall Police which focuses on the lived experience of Special Constables and its impact on retention.  This research is being undertaken jointly with Dr Iain Britton and Dr Matt Callender from The Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice (IPSCJ) at University of Northampton.  We are also delighted to have a BU MBA student, Steven Kueberuwa, involved in the project.

Key areas which the project delves into in detail are:

  • Motivations and expectations when joining the force
  • Recruitment and training
  • Knowledge translation, development and pathways to independence
  • Worklife balance and impacts on ‘being’ a Special Constable
  • Relationships, support and morale
  • Organisational culture and environment
  • Job satisfaction and future intentions

Individual in-depth interviews have taken place with Special Constables across both constabularies from May through July.  Today was our first workshop focusing on mapping the data – intense, but very enjoyable – watch this space for more info on findings and outputs in due course.

Innovation awards – Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS) – new call to be announced

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Innovation awards under PaCCS focusing on Conflict and International Development

The ESRC and AHRC will shortly be launching a further call for interdisciplinary innovation awards under the Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS) focusing on Conflict and International Development. (Pre-call.)

Find out more information including the proposed call timescale here.

AHRC information.

If you are interested in submitting to this call you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Funding launched to encourage entrepreneurs in engineering or technology

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The Royal Academy of Engineering invites applications for its launchpad competition. Funding aims to encourage young entrepreneurs to start a new business based on their innovation in engineering or technology, with engineering defined in its broadest sense. The competition aims to:

•improve the skills of the awardee:

•develop role models of entrepreneurship;

•bring engineering innovations to market for a wider public benefit.

Applications are open to individuals or small teams. The lead applicant must be UK-based and aged between 16 and 25. They should have a viable and commercial business proposition with a large market opportunity, and be planning to set up a business within the 18 months following the application deadline. The feasibility of the initial product or service must have been proven preferably with a basic prototype.

The winner receives the JG Gammon award, which includes a cash prize of £15,000 and a year’s membership of the enterprise hub. This provides mentoring, training and networking opportunities with UK entrepreneurs and investors. Up to two other individuals or teams may be chosen as runners up.

Click here for more information on support for entrepreneurs.

Click here for more information on the launchpad competition – now live !

#Digital4EU Stakeholder Forum Final Report Published

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The final report from the #Digital4EU Stakeholder Forum which took place in Brussels on Thursday 25 February 2016 is now available online.

This one-day event, organised by the European Commission, was centred around the progress made in creating a Digital Single Market (DSM) in Europe.

Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger, responsible for the Digital Economy and Society, Wepke Kingma, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the EU and Roberto Viola, Director-General of DG Connect, held keynote speeches during the event.

#Digital4EU 2016 was the second edition of the #Digital4EU Stakeholder Forum, which focused on President Jean-Claude Juncker’s digital priorities.

#Digital4EU 2016 covered the following five topics:

  1. The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) mobilising digital projects
  2. Delivering the Digital Single Market – from the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) to action
  3. The Digital Economy: the data and computing opportunities for Europe
  4. Innovate, start and scale-up
  5. Platforms, is there a need to regulate?

(Source: UKRO)