The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship(NCGE) has recently launched two opportunities for Engineering students/graduates who might be interested in starting their own business:

The National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) is a government funded not-for-profit organisation that works with Higher Education Institutions in England to promote entrepreneurship education and graduate start-up.

NCGE has recently launched two opportunities for Engineering students/graduates who might be interested in starting their own business: The Flying Start Programme for Engineers supported by the Royal Academy of Engineers and the Flying Start Global Entrepreneurs Programme supported by Kauffman Foundation(US). Please see details are both below and we would be grateful if you could pass on the information to any students, graduates (of up to 5 years on) and postgraduates who might be interested:

Flying Start Global Entrepreneurs Programme

The Flying Start Global Entrepreneurship Programme takes the best entrepreneurial talent from UK universities and links them with the entrepreneurial environment in America. The purpose is to encourage UK graduates/postgraduates to develop scalable high intensity businesses. The Flying Start Global Entrepreneurs Programme is the UK part of a 12 month programme made possible by collaboration between the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship , UK and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri, US.

The Programme consists of:

6 months spent in the UK where Global Entrepreneurs work with their sponsor university to develop their science, technology or engineering business idea.
6 months in the US as Kauffman Global Scholars where they work with top entrepreneurial universities and intern in leading innovative companies.
Global Entrepreneurs are drawn from English universities and have science, technology and engineering, maths related business concepts. The deadline for applications is 5PM Friday 9th May 2008

An application form, guidelines and further details can all be found on:

http://www.flyingstart-ncge.com/public/global_scholars/gs_home.html.

As in past years your university has been asked to sponsor individual students or post-graduates. Applications are not accepted from individuals. Each application will be verified to ensure that the university has agreed to sponsor.

Flying Start Programme for Engineers

In conjunction with the Royal Academy of Engineering we have just launched the first national Flying Start Programme solely for graduates who plan to launch engineering-related businesses in the UK. The programme will take current final year students and graduates from across the country and provide them with the support and training needed to turn their idea into a business within 12 months.

The programme is free and any final year student or graduate planning to start and base a engineering business in the UK is welcome to apply. It is also open to those who have just began to trade (within the last 12 months). The programme kicks off with a 3 day residential to be held at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London on 30th June - 2nd July 2008 (Food and accommodation for participants is included). Following the 3 day residential graduates receive mentoring and support for a full 12 months.

We would really appreciate it if you could circulate this information through your networks and in particular to any students, graduates or postgraduates who may be interested. There are 30 places available, deadline for applications is Friday 16th May but places will be offered before this date to any application that meets the required standard so we expect the place to be filled before this date. An application form can be found on the following link;

http://www.flyingstart-ncge.com/uploads/RAE_Engineering_application_form.doc