Revitalising Entrepreneurship: Forging New Paths with Higher Education and Industry Collaboration

It will be 15 years since Ren Kapur MBE was appointed by the then Labour Secretary of State for Education to lead on Business, Admin and Finance with the Education and Enterprise Taskforce, one of five Directors across the UK. The other four came from IBM, Wates PLC, Brompton Cycles and the Crown Court. The taskforce made tremendous headway in bringing industry and education together to champion entrepreneurship.

This year the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE) will be 20 years old. It is one of the leading organisations set up to support the crucial role of entrepreneurship learning in education. Similarly, NCEE was formed by the then Labour Government to support universities in becoming more enterprising and entrepreneurial.

It is with great pride that we have established a formal partnership between NCEE and Enterprise For Life and its associated Social Enterprises, X-Forces Enterprise & X-Emergency Services to revisit our pledge to create a more entrepreneurial UK. Jointly we launched a roundtable in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses and Universities UK, and collectively brought our partners together to consider how we can revitalise entrepreneurship in the UK most effectively.

We all know that educational institutions play a crucial role in fostering an entrepreneurial mindset. However, the narrowing of educational objectives, combined with reduced funding, has deprioritised enterprise education. Support has become narrowly focused on finding the next “unicorn” rather than fostering a broad base of entrepreneurial talent and therefore finding a solution is vital for prosperity. We are all acutely aware that the business landscape is made up of all business size and our efforts should be across the spectrum to make long lasting results.

As a society, we need to re-establish ourselves as a launchpad for innovation and entrepreneurship, rising to the challenge of becoming key drivers of community and economic development locally, nationally, and internationally. Enterprise for Life is collaborating with NCEE to bring together the private sector, policymakers and universities to make this change.

By fostering entrepreneurial mindsets, equipping students with essential skills, and creating robust support systems, we can transform our approach to entrepreneurship in higher education. This renewed focus will not only benefit our students and graduates but also contribute significantly to the broader economy and society, equipping young people with the skills sought by business to build an innovative workforce.

This is our initial report: ‘Connect To Innovate: Revitalising Entrepreneurship in the UK’.  We will take this forward in partnership with industry and universities.

This report was shaped by those in industry and higher education. We want to continue that engagement and will be inviting expressions of interest for working groups to take the pillars forward. If you are interested do contact Professor Ren Kapur MBE ren@renkapur.com.

Thank you to our strategic partners, the Federation of Small Businesses and Universities UK.

Thank you to the following organisations for their contributions:

Big South London Partnership, Curzon Consulting, Forces in Mind Trust, Landmarc Solutions, Localis, NatWest, Oracle and X-Forces Enterprise.

Universities: Anglia Ruskin, Aston, Bath Spa, Coventry, Liverpool John Moores, Newcastle, Salford and Suffolk.

To those who weren’t in the room, thank you for your support.

GKN Aerospace, Cisco, British Business Bank, PPL, Reed in Partnership, Greenwich Hospital Trust, Redwood Technologies, Barclays, Reading University and Centrica.