UHI Business Idea Competition 2012

It's that time of year again....

"At CREATE we want to help all learners to acquire an enterprising mind-set. We seek to inspire and support students to realise their potential and to develop entrepreneurial behaviours and skills for business and self-employment. 

The UHI Business Idea Competition is an ideal opportunity for anyone who has an interesting and innovative business idea. The competition is open to all students enrolled at any UHI College, and to everybody aged 16 or over living in the Highlands and Islands, Moray or Perthshire. 

It is very straightforward to enter, with only four questions to answer. If you have more than one idea, why not submit them all? You may submit as many applications as you wish, and the on-line entry system allows you to have more than one entry in preparation at one time. 

 Completed entries must be received by the judges by 24 October 2012 to be eligible to win a share of the £7,500 prize fund...."

For more info and to apply follow this link:

UHI Advisory Support for the Food & Drink Industry

Here's some information from UHI:

People in the food and drinks sector are being invited to a free information session to find out about opportunities to receive advice from industry experts.

The University of the Highlands and Islands Management School is holding a lunchtime meeting on Thursday 26 January to introduce two new programmes.

The first of these is a joint venture between Scotland’s Food and Drink Skills Academy and Investors in People Scotland which helps companies to ensure their staff have the right skills to meet business goals.

Organisations which take part in the “people route map for your business” programme will meet with an industry specialist to identify key business objectives and create a people and training action plan to achieve these - all free of charge.

The Management School's information session will also give an overview of the University’s new business leadership programme which will support managers, particularly in the food and drinks sector, to grow and develop their businesses.

Taught by experienced business leaders, the postgraduate certificate covers marketing, strategy, decision making and performance excellence and can be undertaken anywhere in the Highlands or beyond.

Speaking about the route map and postgraduate programmes, Management School Head, Euan Black, said: “There are many fantastic businesses in the Scottish food and drinks sector so we are delighted to be able to offer support and advice to help them grow and develop. By providing businesses with opportunities to meet industry experts, we hope to help individual businesses achieve their potential and continue to strengthen our thriving food and drinks sector as a whole.”

The University of the Highlands and Islands Management School information session will take place at Cowan House in Inverness from 11am to 2:30pm on Thursday 26 January.

Lunch is included and the event will also include an opportunity to network with representatives from Scotland’s Food and Drink Skills Academy, Investors in People Scotland and the University of the Highlands and Islands as well as other attendees from the food and drinks industry.

To book a place or find out more about the event and opportunities, contact Fiona Ryan on 01463 279347 or at fiona.ryan@uhi.ac.uk

UHI Management School

I'm very pleased to be part of the Steering Group for the new Management School at the University of the Highlands & Islands ("UHI Millennium Institute" no more!) and we hope that the business community within our area will take advantage of its courses as part of the business development process.

Here's an update from Fiona Ryan, The Management School's newly-appointed Project Officer:

Introducing UHI's new Management School

The Management School, which is headed up by Euan Black, was launched on 1 August 2010 and has been created to ensure that organisations in the Highlands & Islands and beyond have access to high-quality management training and education. To read more about this exciting venture please access the first edition of the Management School's newsletter here:

The Postgraduate Certificate in Enterprise and eMarketing, which has been commended for its innovation and relevance to SME’s, focuses on business growth and explores the challenges and opportunities of growing an SME, looking both at entrepreneurial leadership and marketing, particularly online or digital marketing. Information on the programme can be found here:

Leadership and Management

The second main area we have been working on is leadership. In September 2010 we launched an MSc in Leadership and Management, this programme is aimed more at those working in medium, larger and public sector organisations and is about supporting individuals take on increased leadership responsibilities effectively. The programme is built on extensive experience we have had working with the health sector, where we deliver a very successful national leadership programme. The Masters programme is made up of a postgraduate certificate, diploma and masters qualifications, information on these can be found via the following links:

Certificate:

Diploma:

Masters (MSc):

For further information, please contact Fiona Ryan, via the Management School website

BIG Event - Dornoch 8 February 2011

If you're looking for advice and inspiration regarding the growth of your business, the UHI Millennium Institute has organised a business event to be held at The Dornoch Castle Hotel  on Tuesday 8th February 2011 from 10.00 to 4.00pm.  The Workshop is open to any size of business, in any sector, and aims to be a practical and interactive event to help bring about business change and development.

You can download the information sheet here.

Booking is essential, businesses can easily register at: http://www.hilinks.uhi.ac.uk/pages/newslist.html and, for more information, you can contact the following:

Charlotte Lever:  charlotte.lever@uhi.ac.uk

UHI HI Links, UHI Millennium Institute, The Synergie Building, Fairways Business Park, Inverness IV2 6AA

T: +44 (0) 1463 279 368 Fax: 0871 5283 284

UHI Management School

I recently attended a meeting of the UHI Management School Stakeholder Group.

The School is providing and developing a wide spectrum of courses ranging from modular skills courses to full-blown postgraduate research opportunities .

It will utilise the rapidly-increasing expertise across the UHI network and provide general courses and those relevant to specialist areas such as social enterprise, creative industries, renewables etc.  All levels of business, community enterprise and the voluntary sector will be encouraged to join the management school to enable employees, volunteers and entrepreneurs to gain the management skills vital to business growth and success.

Through its involvement with the Management School,  Business Gateway will be be able assist clients to identify the most appropriate management education and training for owners and employees and is a natural development of our work with Further Education initiatives such as Create.

Led by Dr Neil Simco, Dean of the UHI Business Faculty and the newly-appointed Head of School,  Euan Black, the Stakeholder Group represents a range of business, local authority, enterprise agency interests.


For more information take a look at the management school blog or website

Business Ideas Workshop

Here's a message from Charlotte Ball of UHI Links about their Idea Generation workshop

Do you have a BIG idea for your business?

OR

Do you need a BIG idea to boost your business?

UHI HI Links is delighted to invite you to a workshop with Dr Kevin Byron which aims to help companies turn business ideas and aspirations into a reality.

Inverness College, Longman Campus

Thursday 7th October 1000-1600

The workshop is open to any business of any size , working in any sector and will be an extremely practical and interactive workshop helping companies to work through the process of bringing business change to fruition.

Dr Byron will provide practical examples and techniques which companies can take home, starting with the conception of an idea for business change and working through how a company can approach making new ideas for products and processes a reality.

During the day’s workshop UHI HI Links will also signpost participants to appropriate support and funding that businesses may be able to access at each stage of the processes and give an overview of how companies can access UHI HI Links free services.

The workshop will begin at 10:00 and finish at 16:00.

Due to the nature of the workshop spaces are limited in order to facilitate effective group working. As we only have a limited number of places we would ask any individuals wishing to sign up to complete the following short registration form http://www.hilinks.uhi.ac.uk/pages/newslist.html no later than Friday 10th September. UHI HI Links will then inform those who have successfully gained a place on the workshop early in the week beginning 13th September).

For further information please contact Charlotte Ball (charlotte.ball@uhi.ac.uk/01463 279 368

Food & Drink Seminar, Dingwall, 24 August 2010

UHI HI Links is holding a lunchtime seminar at Tulloch Castle, Dingwall on Tuesday 24th August.  It is aimed at the Food & Drink sector and those businesses looking for help on developing new products and marketing.  Keynote speakers will be from Food Innovation (University of Abertay) and Food Marketing (Scottish Agricultural College).

Registration is from 1130am. A light lunch will be served at 1.15pm.

For more information please contact Charlotte Ball, tel: 01463 279368