Albright IP is committed to supporting local innovation in whatever form it may appear. We therefore came out of our ivory (Eagle) tower to help out at the Young Entrepreneurs Day at Cheltenham College. Will Doherty presents his report on a grand day out.
Gloucestershire business lives and dies by the innovative character of its economic output, and it is reassuring to see that this tradition will be continued by the next generation. Having acted as a facilitator at this year’s heat at Cheltenham College, I am glad to report that the students are bright and engaging communicators, as well as being very forward-thinking individuals.
The Young Entrepreneurs event is run by the GFutures team as part of the GFirst LEP, the Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, in association with GCHQ, and is designed to provide young people with a first flavour of what might be required in order to start and operate a successful business which relies on innovation and technological progress.
The competition is aimed at Year 9 students, aged 13 to 14, and judging by the verve on show at Wednesday’s event, the county-wide competition will be a thrilling affair, with plenty of clever product and service ideas on show. This year’s theme is technical solutions which might help businesses in a travel or transport context.
I was privileged to be asked to judge one of the semi-finals on the day, and the standard of the presentations was top-notch. All of the pitches were engaging, and no doubt we will see some of the students on Dragon’s Den in the near future! The winning team will go on to present their idea next year at the regional finals. Good luck from all of us at Albright IP!