Radar went along to the SIE Idea Generation Workshop and the Enterprise Fair hosted by RGU last week.
RGU have set up entrepreneurial events to encourage students to discuss and inspire business ideas. The entrepreneurial events were organised by the RGU Careers and Employability Centre, the RGU CRIB and Surge Aberdeen.
SIE Idea Generation Workshop
Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) presented an Idea Generation workshop. This was for students who were looking for advice on how to create new business ventures, to learn how to ensure your idea is future proof and for gaining skills in how to be innovative.
Group tasks involved students being asked to create a product or service for a community or a person, that would provide them with benefits or solve a problem.
The students were then shown how business ideas can be developed in the future. For example, how vinyl records became CD’s and now music is downloaded. The purpose of this was to show students how to look for potential business ideas and how they would operate in future scenarios.
The students were then given 25 futuristic business ideas that already exist and they were asked to combine two ideas together that would solve a problem in the community. For example, a British product designer has invented a 360-degree view helmet for cyclists. At the workshop, this idea was combined with a virtual reality (VR) device that means people can create their own VR experience. Other futuristic ideas included a $500 pollution t-shirt created by a New York fashion designer that changes colour when exposed to air pollution. Another idea discussed was a ‘Print my Dinner’ business that prints flavoured foam using images from the internet to create the shape.
The SIE offer lots of interactive sessions to explore and develop entrepreneurial skills. This gives students the opportunity to experiment with new business ideas with the support of experienced enterprise professionals. Their help and guidance is very much appreciated.
https://www.sie.ac.uk/
Enterprise Fair
There was an Enterprise fair held for students to meet organisations who support new business ideas and to provide assistance for students who want to start their own company.
There were representatives from:
- Converge Challenge
- Enterprise Campus (Represented by Converge Challenge)
- RGU Careers and Employability Centre
- Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE)
Enterprise Campus consists of three challenges: Kick Start, Social Enterprise and Converge Challenge. The winners of each challenge receive money from a prize fund of £150,000 towards their business idea. These challenges are for undergraduates who have a business idea and require assistance to start the venture process.
https://www.convergechallenge.com/
For postgraduates, Enterprise Campus offers students support from hubs across Scotland to get their business started. They offer mentoring for business planning, prototyping, funding advice, routes to market, and legal and accounting advice.
http://www.enterprisecampus.org.uk/
These events were open to students from all subjects and future enterprise events will be held at RGU.