The DM Centre for Entrepreneurship

Members of the CfE team were delighted to connect with Gaming and Music final year students at the FODI event to explain upcoming proposed entrepreneurial programmes.

Speaking briefly during Dr Glyn Hadley’s and Dr Christos Gatzidis’ lectures, the Student Entrepreneurship Manager had the opportunity to give a high level overview of the Bournemouth University Graduate Incubator’s offerings including:

• Hackathon
• Bootcamp
• Competition
• 12 months incubation space

The Business Ideas Hackathon was the main focus of the talk.  The Hackathon will be a 36-hour business idea hack to identify and develop out innovative potential high growth businesses.  Running in the Autumn semester 2014, the Hackathon will enable students to devise and code a new business from the ground up and provide an environment to test out the proposed business model.  Students from SciTech will team up with students from HSC, Media, Tourism and Business, for instance, to code a solution to a real-world problem or to scope out a potential fast-growing business.   The focus is on innovation, creativity and on high growth with fusion of different disciplines being key to success.  Whilst this initial presentation was to SciTech, students from any disciplines are invited to apply and presentations will be given to all schools in September.   Bournemouth University students about to enter their final year are invited to register their interest at this stage at our Hackathon page.

Designed to hone and refine business ideas, the Bootcamp will be for participants of the business idea Hackathon or those who already know what business they want to do.  The Bootcamp will enable participants to build out their business plans and to start to develop their offering and their pitch.

The Bootcamp feeds into the Business Idea Competition:  a Dragon’s Den-style event where businesses pitch to win 12 month’s free incubator space and business support at the Centre for Entrepreneurship.

SciTech students had a day away from their industry placements attend the FODI event, with some of the students showcasing their work to the general public.  During the event, BUCfE incubator business Static Games were able to feature their new game, Mendel’s Farm, and sign up beta testers for their imminent release.

The CfE team are immensely grateful to Senior Lecturers in Creative Technology Dr Glyn Hadley and Dr Christos Gatzidis for generously allowing us some time to present to their students.