Blog UEA Stories
UEA i-Teams call-out for business mentors
UEA is looking for people with entrepreneurial skills in the heritage, technology or business sector who would be interested in mentoring groups of PhD researchers working on innovation projects from January to April 2019.
PhD students and post-doctoral researchers benefit from developing commercial and business skills alongside carrying out research. One way they can do this is by getting involved with i-Teams (innovation teams) where a group of up to eight PhD students/researchers work with a business mentor on a project that solves real world problems.
Technology i-Teams has run at UEA since 2015 and has had some impressive outcomes, including contributing to the creation of two spin-out companies and the OpenUpUEA app which launched recently and featured in local news. The focus of these projects is to investigate how novel technologies generated from UEA and the broader Norwich Research Park might be of use in the wider world – what applications could they have, what industries might be interested in them and how best can they be marketed.
Heritage i-Teams was piloted in 2018 to engage a wider range of PhD students and involves projects from external partners that centre on a heritage problem, challenge or new area for exploration. The teams look at how an aspect of heritage or something of historic importance can be marketed and refined to engage the public in an innovative way. The pilot was very successful for partners contributing projects, mentors and students; it will be running for the second time in 2019.
The role of the business mentor is to guide participants, advise on commercial viability and keep the team motivated. Participants must find their own way of self-managing tasks but the mentor acts as a safety net. i-Teams mentors report that they find the experience extremely rewarding and frequently come back to mentor multiple projects or work more closely with UEA and the NRP. i-Teams is held on Tuesday evenings.
Email iteams@uea.ac.uk to talk through the opportunities