The University of Strathclyde has launched a new five-year strategic plan to help entrepreneurial students and staff make an impact far beyond its campus.
The Reaching Beyond strategy sets out to ‘redefine what it means to be an entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial university’ and to help Scotland to become a more prosperous, productive, and internationally competitive nation.
The strategy was launched on Friday 30 May at the Strathclyde Inspire Summit in the University’s Technology & Innovation Centre, which featured a contribution from the Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes as well as presentations by Scottish Government’s Chief Entrepreneur Ana Stewart, alumnus and entrepreneur Amar Latif, Senior Enterprise Fellow Calum Paterson and panel discussions from startup and spinout founders.
Next generation
More than £180,000 worth of funding was awarded at the event to entrepreneurial ventures and individuals as part of the Summit, through initiatives including the University’s i100 pitch competition, which has been supporting next generation innovators for more than two decades.
The strategy outlines four goals: nurturing changemakers; supporting diverse entrepreneurial opportunities; guiding founders towards capital; and empowering growth businesses.
Its overarching mission is to provide robust and inclusive support for entrepreneurial individuals and ventures, both within and beyond the University, at every stage of the entrepreneurial journey.
A key element of the strategy is defining entrepreneurship as being ‘beyond business’ to nurture entrepreneurial thinkers more widely who can create a powerful community of changemakers.
Drive innovation
Fiona Ireland, Head of Entrepreneurship Strategy, said: “At Strathclyde, we purposefully define entrepreneurship as beyond the act of starting a business. We recognise the transformative power of developing people with entrepreneurial mindsets who can challenge existing norms, drive innovation, seek opportunity and move towards a better future.
Expanding our focus from an institutional level to a societal level, we will also extend our reach beyond the walls of the University, beginning with a number of schools participating in the Summit.
Since the inaugural university-wide entrepreneurship strategy was launched in 2020 – the first of its kind in Scotland – Strathclyde has supported the creation of a further 106 start-ups and spin-outs, witnessed its founders winning the Converge Challenge main category more often than any other university, helped sustainable food producer Enough secure Scotland’s second-largest investment deal in 2023, and been named European Entrepreneurial University of the Year in 2023.
The University has also attracted significant philanthropic support, including £30m for the Charles Huang Advanced Technology & Innovation Centre and £3m for the Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards from alumnus Dr Charles Huang, and £1.2m for entrepreneurial mindset training from a well engaged and generous US-based alumnus.
Transformative approach
Since 2020, Strathclyde has raised £8m in equity returns and generated licensing income of £3.7m, witnessed its 33 portfolio companies create 332 new jobs, and helped investee companies raise a total of £152.4m across 51 deals – with an average of £2.99m per deal, 45% higher than the Scottish average for high growth investment.
Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Strathclyde, said: “Our new strategy aims to go beyond our growing success as a leading entrepreneurial campus so we can create a new standard for entrepreneurship in the university sector at large.
This transformative approach represents more than an institutional strategy; it is a blueprint for universities in the 21st century.
“The Strathclyde team that deliver these activities themselves exemplify the best of our entrepreneurial spirit through their innovative approaches, pushing our risk appetite and focusing on delivery. I am very proud of this distinctive feature of Strathclyde’s strategy and the contribution it allows us to make locally, nationally and internationally.”