Budding entrepreneurs set up new College society

Launch party of new club a huge success - News

Tuesday 31 October 2006
By Naomi Weston

A new College society for aspiring entrepreneurs was officially launched this October. The society, IC Entrepreneurs, was set up by students and is open for all to join, from students and staff to alumni. The launch party took place at Tanaka Business School with Dr John Hassard, from the Department of Physics, as the guest speaker.

Much of Dr Hassard's work in the field of high-energy physics has been spun off into a company, deltaDOT, which is now in partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and government agencies in the EU, US and Japan. He gave a lecture on his experiences and then students were given the opportunity to ask him questions.

"The idea behind the new society is to create a diverse community of people within the College, who have an interest in entrepreneurship and the commercialisation of their research, explains Ross Richardson, a student at the Business School and one of the co-founders of the society.

IC Entrepreneurs aims to facilitate cross-disciplinary interaction, to encourage the discussion of entrepreneurial ideas and to stimulate the creation of new ventures. "We will be hosting a number of forthcoming events including seminars, networking opportunities and practical workshops to develop the key skills necessary for successful entrepreneurship," adds Ross.

Fifteen committee members, mainly PhD students, make up the society and they already have over 300 people including, researchers, MBA students and alumni, registered to become members. The new society also provides an opportunity for members to find partners to build a successful business team. There will also be an electronic forum which will create an easy-to-access method of sharing information, posing questions, asking for advice and networking.

For more information on the new society and details of forthcoming events please write to contact@ic-entrepreneurs.com.