Enterprise Week (17th - 23rd November) is going global this year as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, and we want you to get involved. If you're organising something enterprise related during the week then register it on our website, www.enterpriseweek.org.uk, or call Jon on 0207 430 8041 and he'll do it for you!
 

Small business saviours

 The new ‘Solutions for Business’ (doc – 36KB) package of publically-funded business support products available through Business Link was launched this month. Secretary of State for BERR, Peter Mandelson, said that Solutions for Business would simplify the current support system for new and existing businesses. Mandelson also spoke about the role of  RDAs as drivers of regional enterprise and economic growth (doc – 109KB).

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling, announced plans to give small businesses access to upto £4billion of loans from the European Investment Bank, and Ian Pearson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, announced changes to the way that government department and organisations pay suppliers to ease cash flow burdens for SMEs.

In the skills arena, John Denham, Secretary of State for DIUS, outlined a new £350 million package for small business to help them train their employees through the Train to Gain scheme. £98 million of this money will be targeted at specific sectors, including biotech and nuclear and renewable energy.

Creating enterprising places

Innovation by Adoption (NESTA - pdf: 12MB)

The UK needs to improve its ‘absorptive capacity’ – that is, its ability to draw in good ideas from elsewhere – and create better ways to spread knowledge throughout its regions and cities, according to a report by NESTA. They argue that policy makers too often focus upon the ability of the UKs regions and cities to develop and commercialise ideas themselves, rather than sharing knowledge and innovations.

Real-world education and skills

British Indian and Chinese Graduate Entrepreneurship (DIUS - pdf: 0.9MB)

British Indian and Chinese graduates, who typically have ‘high level intellectual capital’ and a ‘rich endowment of cultural and social capital’, represent a huge source of enterprise potential, according to a report funded by DIUS. The report proposes ways to unlock this potential, including greater provision of enterprise education focusing on post-graduate, part-time and mature students, as well as efforts to change negative perceptions of entrepreneurship amongst parents.

In the media

Scarborough has been named the ‘enterprise capital of Britain’ in this year’s Enterprising Britain awards after its ‘Waking Sleeping Beauty’ project transformed the seaside town, bringing in over £200m of private investment.

The University of Nottingham has been named ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ in the Times Higher Education Awards for its ‘breadth and depth of…entrepreneurial culture’. The University of Coventry was announced as a very close second place.

The twenty-first century is showing a ‘policy revolution’, backing knowledge and technology-based entrepreneurship above big business, according to a newly published book, The Entrepreneurial Society, by David Audretsch, US academic and contributor to Make Your Mark’s Future Face of Enterprise.

Driving up innovation in businesses

Network Citizens: Power and Responsibility at Work (DEMOS - pdf: 0.3MB)

Companies must harness the power of both formal and informal networks in order to enhance productivity, innovation and employee engagement, the think-tank DEMOS argue. The rise of ‘social’ networking - as opposed to ‘professional’ networking - creates new challenges for people management, but should be encouraged.

*Need to expand your networks? During Global Entrepreneurship Week 2008, Make Your Mark is encouraging companies and organisations to run their own speednetworking events. Click here for more details.