3 October, 2012, by Francine Pickering
The Ingenuity Business Network – what’s in it for the University?
The Ingenuity breakfast events have been running for some years now, originally established as part of the funded Ingenuity Programme. When the funding for that programme came to an end, the University decided to continue to support the network which might make you wonder why – just what is in it for the University?
Naturally, the University is part of the local community and the business network is a great way to connect with local business owners. By sharing the knowledge and expertise from within the University, it can contribute towards the success and growth of the businesses in its network.
But there are more specific things that people within the University get out of these connections – and, very often, these are things that can benefit you too. Take, as just one example, the University people who took advantage of the “shop window” part of the most recent breakfast event, Seven Ways to Fix the World. Four different people, with different perspective on how the network can help them and they can help the network.
Deborah Roberts spoke about the MSc Placements that Nottingham University Business School need for the very best of their MSc students. She is looking for more opportunities with local small businesses for projects for these students to work on between June and September next year.
It’s something the University needs to provide – and something that can really benefit a local business if they have a specific project in mind that would enhance the student’s learning and help take their own business forward.
Why is Deborah talking to you about this now? Because it’s important to find the right businesses to work with, to scope the project appropriately for all parties’ needs, and to make the best possible match between business and student. The matching process starts in January so you need to be thinking about how best to make the most of this opportunity well before then. There is no cost to participate in an MSc Placement.
Interested? You can contact Deborah on deborah.roberts@nottingham.ac.uk.
Louise Mullany is a specialist in Applied Linguistics. She is looking for volunteer business leaders to take part in an initiative around Linguistic Profiling. Participants will have their communication patterns profiled leading to greater understanding of these patterns and also of how you can adapt these patterns for greater communicative impact and effectiveness in your work.
If you think that your workplace communication could be improved or are facing any challenges with communication, this is a great opportunity to gain valuable insights as well as helping with this research. Everyone who participates will receive a copy of their linguistic profile as well as recommendations about what techniques would help them to be more effective. There is no financial cost to participate, just the investment of some of your time.
Interested? You can contact Louise on louise.mullany@nottingham.ac.uk.
Professor Bob Berry, Professor of Accounting and Finance, is a regular favourite at the Ingenuity breakfast events turning what, on first impression, might sound like dry subjects into interesting and practical presentations for small business owners. His presentation earlier this year started lively audience discussion around the troubles of managing debtors – a subject that he will be tackling in more depth in next year’s programme.
He would like to use a couple of case studies from local businesses who have faced the problems of bad debt and explore how they have tackled those problems and what else they might do to prevent or address them. If you’re keen to share your experiences so others don’t have to endure the same, Bob would like to talk to you, give you advice from his research and experience, and highlight the kind of traps that small business owners can find themselves in in his next presentation.
Willing to help out in return for some expert input? You can contact Bob on robert.berry@nottingham.ac.uk
John Harvey is a co-founder of NeeHoy. A PhD student with the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute, he and his colleagues are winners of the inaugural Digital Economy Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Digital Economy YES). The scheme helped the team to develop the business case for their app, aimed at encouraging people to adopt collaborative consumption, reducing waste and saving money by sharing items, something that fitted very nicely with the theme of the morning’s event.
John simply wanted to introduce the concept of the app and gather early interest through the web site www.neehoy.co.uk – why not sign up, support some innovative students, and find out how to consume more collaboratively?
One of the good things about the Ingenuity breakfast events is being able to find out about the things that the University has on offer. It’s not a surprise to find that what helps the University can also be of great help to local businesses too.