Our Future Wealth Creators: Graduate Start-up Companies Professor Helen Pickering, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, The University of Teeside, UK abc

UNIVERSITY OF TEESSIDE b Medium Sized University (17000 students) b Located in Middlesbrough/North East England b High Levels of Economic/Social Deprivation b Historically Large Company Dominated Area and Low Number of SME’s b New Company Formation Low b Low Participation in Higher Education b Low Graduate Retention

Enterprise - Building a Knowledge Based Economy b Universities at the Heart of Government Commitment to Economic Regeneration b Creating a ‘Culture of Enterprise’ in the University b Staff/Student Commercialisation Activity Support b New High Technology Innovation Centre On- Campus and Incubator Space b Structured Enterprise Learning Programmes

The University of Teesside Business Incubation Model b Top level University Support b On-Campus Business Development Team b Enterprise Educational Programmes in Support b Easy-in and Easy-Out Office Space for Teesside Graduates b Business Advice Off- Campus to Graduates from any University b Common Support services provided (eg. legal, accommodation) b Funding, Information and Guidance available b On and Off-site Business Mentoring b Graduate Companies Programme not for profit b University Commercialisation Programme for profit

Business Incubation Process b Business Development Panel scrutinises business idea b Assistance agreed/declined b 2 Routes: Graduate Business and Direct Commercialisation b Identification of relevant educational support programmes b Identification of space with self-sustaining rental model b Roll-out into pre start-up advice/ incubation/ acceleration b Ongoing support and access to a range of internal and external help b Business re-assessed by Panel in 12 months b Further assistance agreed/declined b Aim to move business off- campus

Graduate Companies Programme Considerative Factors b Still developing the model b Partnerships with Public and Private Sectors b Funding Support b University-wide knowledge/commitment to the project b Relevant Educational/ Business Advice Support b Graduate Characteristics b Company Characteristics b Inter-company collaboration b Building powerful external networks b Ability to react quickly b Building up a track record b Moves to Commercialisation/Equity/ IPR b Evaluating success

Is It Working? b 27 Graduate Companies on campus in 3 years b 50 Graduate Companies supported off-campus b Demand for space growing and new space being funded b Companies mainly in ICT, Design and Business b New areas of activity include Creative/Cultural and Food b Relevant educational support programmes (FT/PT) b Developing staff/student research commercialisation collaboration b Creating jobs b Supporting University income generation b Aiding graduate retention and supporting regeneration b National interest in the Project

What Next? - Over to You b Have we got it right? b What should we do differently? b What have we over-looked? b Where do we go from here? b How do we build on what has been achieved?