Tech City’s Free Pop-Up University Opens
Stephen Welton, Chief Executive of the Business Growth Fund, and Bruce Daisley, UK Sales Director of Twitter, Unveil City Unrulyversity for Budding Entrepreneurs.
LONDON — 30 January 2013 — Unruly, the award-winning global technology platform for social video advertising, has partnered with City University London to open a free pop-up university designed to inform, inspire and empower the next generation of Tech City entrepreneurs.
Located at the heart of Tech City, City Unrulyversity is provided by leading academics from City University London. The venture will be opened today by Stephen Welton, Chief Executive of the Business Growth Fund and Bruce Daisley, UK Sales Director of Twitter.
City Unrulyversity combines academic rigour and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of knowledge with practical relevance from the world of business. The lectures offer advice on everything from creative thinking in agile app development to fast track venturing. It kicks off with a taster session by the University’s Dr Caroline Wiertz (Cass Business School) and Twitter’s Bruce Daisley.
In this Theory Meets Practice session, entitled ‘Does chatter matter? Word of mouth influences on consumer behavior’, Caroline and Bruce join forces to show how academic research can inform and guide business practice by discussing a study on Twitter’s impact on consumer word-of-mouth and product adoption. All sessions are interactive and focus on sharing knowledge, challenging assumptions and reflecting on business practice.
“This is just the kind of creative collaboration that makes Tech City a unique place to locate and grow a business. Great things happen when start-ups collide with academia and I’m looking forward to more of this happening within our community. I’m delighted that Unruly and City University London have created this new innovative way of sharing and thinking with the Tech City cluster to help the next wave of entrepreneurs grow and flourish,” says Joanna Shields, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Tech City Investment Organisation.
“BGF is passionate about entrepreneurship which is the lifeblood of our economy. City Unrulyversity is a brilliant and original idea; a great way to reach beyond the traditional boundaries of academia in a practical and exciting way. The UK has so many innovative young people. If we can inspire and guide them, and bring them a fresh way to access the very latest in education, then I believe we will truly empower the next generation of business leaders,” says Stephen Welton, Chief Executive of the Business Growth Fund.
“City Unrulyversity is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between academia and the start-up community and its mission is to inspire and engage the next generation of digital entrepreneurs,” says Sarah Wood, Co-Founder at social video platform Unruly.
“Historically, new forms of educational opportunity have accompanied moments of exceptional creativity and we hope that this groundbreaking pop-up university will help to nurture tech and business creativity with its stimulating, cross-disciplinary programme and help to bridge the digital divide with its open door policy.”
“We are committed to taking an active part in the growth of Tech City and have much to offer,” says Professor Paul Curran, City’s Vice-Chancellor.
“Our graduates are amongst the country’s most employable, our cutting edge research can be applied to digital businesses and we can supply world-leading consultancy, start-up support and specialist facilities.
“We’re pleased to be collaborating with Unruly in City Unrulyversity and we look forward to further collaborations with Tech City businesses.”
Individuals who attend five City Unrulyversity sessions will become eligible to apply to Cass Business School’s entrepreneurship fund, a £10 million venture capital fund providing growth equity to start-up and early stage companies.
To register for the full list of the free courses, please click here: http://www.cityunrulyversity.com