Spreading the spirit of enterprise

Fast-tracking innovation in Cambridge

Last year, Gordon Brown announced plans to start Enterprise Summer Schools aimed at teenagers in a bid to nurture the entrepreneurs of the future. It is certainly in step with educational and economic predictions of the need for individuals to be able to create their own jobs in a hugely competitive and changing market. But what’s out there for the aspiring entrepreneurs of today? Programmes like the BBC’s ‘Dragon Den’, ‘The Apprentice’ and Channel 4’s ‘Make a Million’ have glamorised enterprise but do little to provide practical help right now. It can be an incredibly long, arduous and risky process for individuals to test, fund and transform their ideas into commercial reality.

The University of Cambridge’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) has been running its own Summer School for the past eight years with increasing success. It’s aimed at those interested in technology, innovation and enterprise looking to overcome the barriers to business – accessing the right skills, funding, networks, etc. The Summer School opens the door once a year to the prestigious Cambridge high technology network with experienced entrepreneurs available to fast-track business innovations to commercial success. CfEL collaborates with over 200 experienced entrepreneurs to provide relevant, credible and practical training. These include people like Hermann Hauser (Serial entrepreneur, Founder of Acorn computers and co-Founder of Amadeus Capital Partners), Karan Bilimoria (Founder and CEO of Cobra Beer) and John Snyder (Founder of Enterprise Accelerator and EEDA board member) to name but a few.

The location helps with Cambridge already recognised as a hive of entrepreneurial activity, particularly in the hi-tech sector. There are an estimated 250 start-ups (many technology leaders in their respective fields) with direct links to the University of Cambridge still trading and accounting for $1.5bn of revenue and $6bn of value. The activities of the Cambridge Technopole, the CfEL, Cambridge’s Hi-tech Cluster, Business Angels, Venture Capitalists and other local interest groups and private sector organisations mean there is a rich bed of knowledge and support for new members of the local hi-tech community.

Over 200 people from 19 countries have attended the Summer School since the programme started in 1999. 55 new businesses have been developed and over £35 million in funding has been raised by alumni in the period 1999 – 2005.

Source: http://www.entrepreneurs.jims.cam.ac.uk/news/news.htm