The English Higher Education Funding Council has commended Imperial's new strategy for its innovative approaches to increasing engagement with SMEs.

The knowledge exchange strategy includes six priority objectives which the College will focus on over the next five years: supporting technology transfer activities, supporting business partnerships, supporting partnerships with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), embedding entrepreneurial activities at the core of the educational experience, influencing policy makers, and running a proof of concept fund.

Imperial was commended by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for the innovative goals and approaches to increasing engagement with SMEs outlined in the strategy. Imperial will seek to increase the ease with which SMEs can access expertise at the College.

Professor Nick Jennings, Imperial’s Vice-Provost (Research), said: “Our new knowledge exchange strategy is part of our commitment to shrinking the time and distance between fundamental discovery and societal benefit. I am pleased our commitment to engaging with SMEs has been recognised, and I look forward to expanding our work in this area.” 

Supporting partnerships with SMEs

Over the next five years, Imperial will take actions to make it easier for SMEs to access the College’s expertise, including:

• forming SME stakeholder groups around particular areas of science and engineering
• investigating the practical problems faced by SMEs in engaging with the College
• developing solutions to these in partnership with SMEs themselves

Currently, Imperial supports SMEs in a number of ways. The White City Incubator, launched last month, provides subsidised lab space for early-stage science and technology companies. Around half of the current occupants are external to the College.

The ELITE programme, a partnership between Imperial College Business School and the London Stock Exchange, provides support for high growth SMEs through a tailored portfolio of business support tools, education services and access to a select group of advisory and investment partners. 

In addition, a number of the College’s departments run schemes which facilitate SME engagement, such as the Department of Computing’s Corporate Partnership Programme, and the Department of Bioengineering’s Imperial MedTech Links.

A community of entrepreneurs

Imperial also plays a role in creating SMEs, with a vibrant entrepreneurial community of staff and students. Around six new start-ups are founded each year by Imperial staff, with the support of Imperial Innovations.

The College’s new Enterprise Lab, launched earlier this year, supports student entrepreneurs. It offers state-of-the-art digital tools, techniques and training to help students build better business plans and improve their performance at pitching to potential clients, partners or investors.

Imperial College ThinkSpace also works with start-ups, high growth businesses and corporations, to provide larger space solutions in the I-Hub at White City and elsewhere.

Read Imperial’s knowledge exchange strategy in full