Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship

2021 Year in Review

Message from the Director
Dr Stephanie Hussels

It has been an extremely busy year at The Bettany Centre and in the spirit of embracing new technology we have prepared a review of some of our wide ranging activities and a short video to update you on the various things we have done.

On behalf of all of us at the Bettany Centre, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our alumni, colleagues, and friends of the Bettany Centre for your ongoing support and we wish you a relaxing Christmas season and a healthy and prosperous 2022 to come!

January – March

Highlights

Cranfield 50

In January, we hosted our first virtual Cranfield 50. We were honoured to welcome Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, Founder of Cobra Beer Partnership and President of the CBI, to give a keynote speech exploring the theme of the event - 2021: A Brave New World. This was followed by an entrepreneurship panel shared with an audience of more than 100 entrepreneurs on how they had embraced this challenge. It was wonderful to have the Cranfield family back together.


Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC)

This year we hosted for the fourth time the North European Final of the Global VCIC at Cranfield. Seven MBA teams from leading European business schools competed with the team from IESE taking the top spot. The competition was supported by 10 judges and three start-ups to whom we are sincerely thankful. The Cranfield MBA team won the Southern European Final and represented Europe at the Global Finals in the US. A simply fantastic achievement!

Cranfield 50
Martin Spiller

i2i Ideas to Innovation

Our Ideas to Innovation Programme worked with over 90 doctoral students from across Europe assisting them to consider the social and economic relevance of their research and challenging them on how this could be commercialised. This work was supported by a team of international mentors from Austria, Finland, the US, and the UK whose guidance was invaluable and provided the impetus for a fantastic internal network.


Start-Up Weekends

We held two very highly successful Start-Up Weekends helping to incubate the ideas of more than 90 participants. We were supported by a large team of inspirational mentors to whom we express our sincere thanks.

Entrepreneurship Speaker Series

Our popular Entrepreneurship Speaker Series continued both face to face and online. Over 500 people attended these events. We would like to extend our special thanks to our fabulous speakers – Vincent Choi, Dr Sarah Qureshi, Zak Hydari, Dr Frank Noppel, and Diane Young. If you did not get a chance to attend one of these events, you can find recordings and write-ups for these online.


Unilever Competition

We hosted our third Unilever Innovation Accelerator with our colleagues in RIO and C4D, bringing together in excess of 300 students from across all schools at Cranfield who were challenged to contribute to the development of the next generation of ice cream and tea products. Congratulations to Team ‘Unity’ for winning this challenge and our thanks to Unilever for their sponsorship.

April – June

European Business Plan of the Year Competition (EBPYC)
NatWest Hackathon

Highlights

European Business Plan of the Year Competition (EBPYC)

We were proud once again to host the European Business Plan of the Year Competition, bringing together students from 12 leading European Business Schools. For the first time in its history, this event was held online. IESE won first place, with Cranfield being awarded the best elevator pitch. Many thanks to all the judges who were involved in supporting this highly competitive competition, (judges shown on the left).


NatWest Hackathon

In collaboration with NatWest we ran the inaugural NatWest Hackathon online which helped students from across campus address real-world challenges related to climate change by developing and pitching viable business solutions. The winner – team Encouragemint – won a golden ticket for the new NatWest Climate Accelerator.

NatWest Pitch Perfect

Natwest Pitch Perfect brought together students for a 3-day event to master the art of pitching and finished with a pitching competition. The winning team was Team Spark. Many thanks go to the Natwest Advisors for their guidance and hands-on support.

Growth Curve and Peer to Peer Network

In partnership with SEMLEP the Bettany Centre has continued to offer business education and support to local businesses in its community. In 2021 this included the provision of Growth Curve masterclasses to 40 businesses and an 8-week Peer 2 Peer growth programme for over 100 businesses.



July – September

Highlights

Investor Day

One of the highlights of the year is our annual Investor Day, where students, staff and alumni can pitch to real investors. The day was split into two sections – presentations for angel investment and an elevator pitch competition. In total 29 businesses presented. A big thank you to Santander Universities, who sponsored the elevator pitch competition, and the many angel investors that joined us remotely.


Bloomberg Ranking

In the latest Bloomberg ranking, the Cranfield School of Management Full-time MBA was ranked 1st in the UK and 3rd in Europe for entrepreneurship. We were, of course, over the moon to hear this news and a big thank you goes to all our alumni and friends of the Centre for their ongoing strong support in promoting entrepreneurship.

Investor Day
Bloomberg ranking

KEEN National Conference

We completed project KEEN - Knowledge Empowered Entrepreneurship Network - with collaborators in Lithuania, Switzerland and Germany funded by Horizon2020. We hosted and attended academic and practitioner conferences; ran training programmes, engaged with schools, delivered development programmes, supported young entrepreneurial start-ups; ran a series of Ph.D. colloquia; published whitepapers, journal and conference papers as well as a book thereby strengthening our relationships with fantastic international collaborators.’

Scholarships

Working in partnership with local councils and in collaboration with CED, we are delighted to have secured over 300 fully funded scholarship places for local businesses to attend a wide range of our business growth courses. Applications for scholarship places are open now and available to businesses based in Central Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, and Luton. Find out further details on our scholarship page and please spread this news!

October – December

Venture Day
Vincent Choi

Highlights

Venture Day

We hosted the first virtual Venture Day Compact in collaboration with our Sustainability Group timed to coincide with Cop26.  We were able to pull together a fantastic line up of experts who shared their thoughts and insights into the challenges and opportunities for business in the 2020s, focusing on the role of purpose lead management and sustainability. More than 100 people joined the conference broadcasted from the Cranfield Grenville Turner studios. For those who missed the event, a write-up can be found here.


Entrepreneurship Speaker Series

Our popular Entrepreneurship Speaker Series continued both face to face and online. Over 500 people attended these events. We would like to extend our special thanks to our fabulous speakers – Vincent Choi, Dr Sarah Qureshi, Zak Hydari, Dr Frank Noppel, and Diana Young. If you did not get a chance to attend one of these events, you can find recordings and write-ups for these online.

MENT fireside talks

Throughout the year, the MSc In Management and Entrepreneurship (MENT) students had the privilege to learn from various entrepreneurs and investors who joined their cohorts as part of a ‘fireside talk’ speaker series. A big thank you to the nine speakers who joined us.

Research

Our research team has been busy at work. Congratulations to Dr Orsolya Ihasz who completed her Ph.D., and Dr Ezra Conrad Carlson, and Dr Mark Hager who completed their DBAs this year. We are currently working on researching the barriers to scalability and would love to hear your views.
If you have 10 minutes to spare, please answer our latest research survey.

BGP Business Plan Review Day

BGP Business Plan Review Day

BGP Business Plan Review Day

Cranfield Student Entrepreneurship Club 2021/22 launch event

Cranfield Student Entrepreneurship Club 2021/22 launch event

Cranfield Student Entrepreneurship Club 2021/22 launch event

Cranfield in the winter

Cranfield in the winter

Cranfield in the winter

MENT fireside talk with Sam Simpson

MENT fireside talk with Sam Simpson

MENT fireside talk with Sam Simpson

Full-time MBA Family Business elective module on the green listening to Lizzy Rudd, Chair Berry Bros & Rudd

Full-time MBA Family Business elective module on the green listening to Lizzy Rudd, Chair Berry Bros & Rudd

Full-time MBA Family Business elective module on the green listening to Lizzy Rudd, Chair Berry Bros & Rudd

Bettany team developing new online programmes

Bettany team developing new online programmes

Bettany team developing new online programmes

Entrepreneurship teaching at Cranfield

Entrepreneurship teaching at Cranfield

Entrepreneurship teaching at Cranfield

Bettany team enjoying their first BBQ together post-lockdown

Bettany team enjoying their first BBQ together post-lockdown

Bettany team enjoying their first BBQ together post-lockdown

Inaugural Central Bedfordshire Council Scholarship recipients

Inaugural Central Bedfordshire Council Scholarship recipients

Inaugural Central Bedfordshire Council Scholarship recipients

Full-time MBAs visiting Berry Bros & Rudd in London as part of the Family Business module

Full-time MBAs visiting Berry Bros & Rudd in London as part of the Family Business module

Full-time MBAs visiting Berry Bros & Rudd in London as part of the Family Business module

Ready for Scale Central Bedfordshire Council launch event

Ready for Scale Central Bedfordshire Council launch event

Ready for Scale Central Bedfordshire Council launch event

Venture Day Compact 2021 from the Grenville Turner Studio

Venture Day Compact 2021 from the Grenville Turner Studio

Venture Day Compact 2021 from the Grenville Turner Studio

Unilever Innovation Accelerator Competition Winners 2021

Unilever Innovation Accelerator Competition Winners 2021

Unilever Innovation Accelerator Competition Winners 2021

Team MENT students bowling night out in term one

Team MENT students bowling night out in term one

Team MENT students bowling night out in term one

Vincent Choi, CEO Pomelo Pay and Dr John Glen at the Bettany Centre Speaker Series

Vincent Choi, CEO Pomelo Pay and Dr John Glen at the Bettany Centre Speaker Series

Vincent Choi, CEO Pomelo Pay and Dr John Glen at the Bettany Centre Speaker Series

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BGP Business Plan Review Day

BGP Business Plan Review Day

BGP Business Plan Review Day

Cranfield Student Entrepreneurship Club 2021/22 launch event

Cranfield Student Entrepreneurship Club 2021/22 launch event

Cranfield Student Entrepreneurship Club 2021/22 launch event

Cranfield in the winter

Cranfield in the winter

Cranfield in the winter

MENT fireside talk with Sam Simpson

MENT fireside talk with Sam Simpson

MENT fireside talk with Sam Simpson

Full-time MBA Family Business elective module on the green listening to Lizzy Rudd, Chair Berry Bros & Rudd

Full-time MBA Family Business elective module on the green listening to Lizzy Rudd, Chair Berry Bros & Rudd

Full-time MBA Family Business elective module on the green listening to Lizzy Rudd, Chair Berry Bros & Rudd

Bettany team developing new online programmes

Bettany team developing new online programmes

Bettany team developing new online programmes

Entrepreneurship teaching at Cranfield

Entrepreneurship teaching at Cranfield

Entrepreneurship teaching at Cranfield

Bettany team enjoying their first BBQ together post-lockdown

Bettany team enjoying their first BBQ together post-lockdown

Bettany team enjoying their first BBQ together post-lockdown

Inaugural Central Bedfordshire Council Scholarship recipients

Inaugural Central Bedfordshire Council Scholarship recipients

Inaugural Central Bedfordshire Council Scholarship recipients

Full-time MBAs visiting Berry Bros & Rudd in London as part of the Family Business module

Full-time MBAs visiting Berry Bros & Rudd in London as part of the Family Business module

Full-time MBAs visiting Berry Bros & Rudd in London as part of the Family Business module

Ready for Scale Central Bedfordshire Council launch event

Ready for Scale Central Bedfordshire Council launch event

Ready for Scale Central Bedfordshire Council launch event

Venture Day Compact 2021 from the Grenville Turner Studio

Venture Day Compact 2021 from the Grenville Turner Studio

Venture Day Compact 2021 from the Grenville Turner Studio

Unilever Innovation Accelerator Competition Winners 2021

Unilever Innovation Accelerator Competition Winners 2021

Unilever Innovation Accelerator Competition Winners 2021

Team MENT students bowling night out in term one

Team MENT students bowling night out in term one

Team MENT students bowling night out in term one

Vincent Choi, CEO Pomelo Pay and Dr John Glen at the Bettany Centre Speaker Series

Vincent Choi, CEO Pomelo Pay and Dr John Glen at the Bettany Centre Speaker Series

Vincent Choi, CEO Pomelo Pay and Dr John Glen at the Bettany Centre Speaker Series

2022 Dates for your Diary


Unilever Innovation Challenge: 11 January

i2i – Ideas to Innovation: 12-14 January

Entrepreneurship Speaker Series: 10, 17 & 24 February

NatWest Pitch Perfect: 22, 23 & 25 March

Start-up Weekends: 10-12 March & 28-29 April

Bettany Centre exterior

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