Digital Economy YES
The digital economy promises to transform the ways in which we work, shop, travel, learn, socialise and play. It is transforming many aspects of society, particularly with regard to technology and provides research challenges and economic opportunities arising from technical and social innovation.
The Digital Economy Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Digital Economy YES) is a venture designed to develop business awareness and an understanding of entrepreneurship in UK postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. This goal is achieved through a competition in which those participating prepare a business plan presentation to support an idea.
Who
It will be of interest to researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds, including computer science, engineering, human factors, psychology, sociology, business, geography, social science, arts and humanities. You may be researching across the disciplines to explore new applications for digital technologies, creating new technologies, or studying their impact on people’s lives.
Researchers wishing to participate can be of all ages from all disciplines but not from taught postgraduate courses.
Applying
Book your place through Central Short Courses. You can join as an individual and we will allocate you to a team or you can enter as a pre-formed team (4 or 5 members).
2013 Dates
Registration Deadline - 10 May
Briefing Session - 17 May (9.30-13.00)
Workshop - 12-14 June (Residential)
Structure
The competition involves teams of researchers, each with 4-5 members, representing the UK university sector and research institutes.
Teams attend a three day residential workshop and during that time they are required to prepare a business plan and make an oral presentation for a hypothetical company, with each member assuming a different director role within the company.
The morning sessions provide an opportunity to hear from industry experts, technology entrepreneurs and investors talk on:
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Intellectual Property and Patenting Strategy
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Raising and Managing Finance
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Commercial and Marketing Strategies
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Case Histories
During the afternoons, teams work on their presentations with the aid of specialist mentors.
On the final day, the team deliver a formal oral business plan presentation to a judging panel comprised of business, financial and academic representatives taking the role of equity investors.
Idea
This competition has been devised for you to further understand the processes involved in bringing new technologies to the marketplace.
The objective of the competition is to prepare a business plan for an original idea that could be used to seek funding from equity investors. The actual idea is less important than the learning experience of putting together a plan.
The idea could be an early stage business opportunity you would like to pursue, one you are currently developing or an imaginary opportunity.
Career
By taking part you will develop an awareness of the needs of industry in respect to the breadth of skills employers expect to find in graduates. These include skills such as evaluating the commercial potential of disruptive innovations and entrepreneurial competencies (eg opportunity identification) required to found new technology start-ups.
You will also gain a broad understanding of accounting, finance, intellectual property and marketing and develop transferrable skills such as making decisions, networking, presentation skills, problem solving, research skills, team work and time management.
For researchers at the University of Nottingham, you will be awarded six training units on completion of the Scheme.