Innovation & Enterprise Summer School 3: Business plans and funding

Innovation & Enterprise Summer School
This year, RDP is pleased to launch an Innovation & Enterprise Summer School for PhD students, led by Dr Emma Williams of EJW Solutions.

Innovation and enterprise are essential aspects of modern research, whether in a university or commercial setting. Developing ideas and assessing their viability; finding backers and a team collaborators; securing financial support; making a plan to deliver results – these are common to research in every field, and every sector. In this summer school, you can refresh your existing skills as well as learning new insights and practical models. You can use the summer school to focus intensively on your current research, or you can use it to try out new ideas. You don’t need to have any plans for, or prior experience of, knowledge exchange and commercialisation.

The four sessions of the summer school have been designed as a pathway, but you are welcome to book for single sessions, i.e. there is no requirement to sign up for the whole programme or to have completed the preceding sessions in order to book for a later one.

Workshop 3: Business plans and funding: turning ideas into reality
It’s not enough to have a great idea. The idea needs a thought-out plan and some well-funded backing.
In this interactive morning, we will look at all aspects of a business plan, including how this relates to research proposals. Our focus will then switch to money: what do different funders need to know, and how we can build a team that meets their expectations? This course will be useful to those looking to gain funding in the future for research or enterprise endeavours.

The other workshops in the series are:
Workshop 1: Ideation and evaluation: generating ideas for enterprise and research
Workshop 2: Mapping out success in research and enterprise
Workshop 4: Telling the world about your idea: pitching yourself

All PhD students.
Postdocs are encouraged to find out about entrepreneurship training offered by the OPdA.
Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here.

Number of sessions: 1

One 2.5 hour session

There will not be a scheduled break in this session, so you are encouraged to go to the Whale Café on your way in and pick up a drink. If you show your University card, you will get a small discount!