Birmingham Enterprise Projects
Growing our future
Birmingham City University is actively engaged in boosting the local region through Enterprise projects and partnerships, focusing on supporting businesses in the area, volunteering with communities, enhancing futures and integrating digital technologies.
Here are some of the ways we are partnering with small businesses to enhance skills and promote economic growth, aiming to create sustainable impacts and drive regional innovation to empower our city.
Diatomic
Operating an accelerator in collaboration with Birmingham City Council, STEAMhouse, and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, striving to drive economic growth and meaningful impact.
Find out moreEarly Help Mentoring and Befriending Service
Delivering a volunteering and mentor service, commissioned and funded by Birmingham Children's Trust, to support young people with SEN to unlock their potential.
Find out morePeer Mentoring and Mental Health Champion for Young People
Working to improve mental health and wellbeing in young people across Birmingham by providing specialist peer mentoring support.
Find out moreRock Up Ready Skills Accelerator
The 'Rock Up Ready' free skills accelerator course delivered at Birmingham City University provides recent graduates with an understanding of the principles and processes of modern screen media production, supporting workforce development and training in the West Midlands.
P4G Cluster SPF Roadmap
Showcasing the contribution of Birmingham to the UKRI agenda and informing the future of next generation services through developing a ‘Research and Innovation roadmap’, a framework for regional economic policy.
Find out moreHigher Level Skills Match Plus
Tackling graduate unemployment and underemployment issues in the Birmingham and Solihull area, improving graduate retention and promoting Birmingham as a destination for investment.
Find out moreSTEAM FORWARD: Supporting Local Businesses with production service and innovation support
Providing business support to local SMEs in the creative industry, digital, transport technology and low-carbon sectors.
Find out moreSupertech West Midlands
Academics at Birmingham City University have collaborated with SuperTech WM to launch its Technology Roadmap – an actionable plan underpinned by data that will increase economic growth and generate jobs in the region.
Our 'Supertech Seeds' project aims to support early stage, pre-revenue businesses by using the power of no-code development to build minimum viable products. BCU assists small business progression into testing, market, revenue generation and attracting investment.
Cyber Security Kickstart
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is keen to boost the number, quality and diversity of individuals getting into cyber jobs. This kickstart will provide 6 month cyber security work placements in the West Midlands. As part of this project, BCU will support applications to the scheme from our student body, interview and match applicants and employers, and monitor the progression of participants.
Med-Tech Innovation Accelerator
Birmingham City University is supporting a range of West Midlands-based healthcare companies through the product design lifecycle to aid adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as 5G and Artificial Intelligence.
This will involve supporting businesses to develop an in-depth understanding of the barriers to technological adoption, implementing 5G-enabled bespoke system design, and help with introduction to digital innovations through evaluation against business and technical requirements.
Help to Grow Management
BCU is supporting small and medium sized businesses to boost performance and long term growth.
Delivered across 12 weeks, the Help to Grow: Management Course includes 12 modules, 8 hours of peer group sessions, and 10 hours of 1-2-1 mentoring. 120 business delegates so far have been enrolled and equipped through our programme.
Highlights from SME participants include:
- Reactivating employee engagement;
- Developing the workforce for specific contracts;
- Growing in confidence and developing the required skills to validate and execute business growth plans;
- Clear identification of roles for the purpose of delivering organisational objectives, review and redefinition of organisational value, vision and mission.