Business and entrepreneurship team recognised at national awards

A team from Cornwall Business School and Falmouth University’s venture studio Launchpad has been shortlisted in the Entrepreneurship Catalyst category of the annual National Enterprise Educators Awards.

The nomination recognises the 63 businesses set up and 163 jobs created in the last 18 months of the Launchpad project. Launchpad companies have also received an incredible £2.6m of external investment.

The award winners are set to be announced at the EEUK annual conference between 6 and 8 September 2023.

The enterprise team are now encouraging students and stakeholders who’ve been mentored or helped by Launchpad to vote in the ‘People’s Choice’ category, a public vote on the submitted video entries. See the entries here.

Reflecting on the nomination and some of the highlights of the Launchpad Programme in recent months, Marcus Simmons, Course Leader in Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management MSc, said: “Since its inception in 2018, the Launchpad project has been on an ambitious mission to impact the Cornish economy by creating new businesses and employment opportunities. The disruption of the pandemic proved to be a challenge, but we were able to pivot our model to respond to market demand. We experimented with a range of new activities to increase engagement and boost results, with an agri-tec hackathon, two tech-stars events – the first ever in Cornwall – as well as a six-week summer business boot-camp, two freelance events and a series of paid internships and freelance projects.
 
“As a result of these efforts in the last 18 months, Launchpad has created 63 new businesses, 163 new jobs and 45 'new-to-market' products, and Launchpad companies have gained £2.6m of external investment. We’re very proud of these results, but even more proud of the students who made all the difference.”

Watch the project video to find out more