A 7-year Blueprint for Inspiration www.blueprintcompetition.co.uk A 7-year Blueprint for Inspiration Brian Tanner Dean of Knowledge Transfer, Durham University Max Robinson Kromek Ltd., Sedgefield, Co. Durham  University of Durham 2010

History Grant from government Office of Science and Technology under Science Enterprise Challenge to develop technology transfer in Durham and Newcastle and enterprise education in all 5 North East England universities North East Centre for Scientific Enterprise 2001-5 Director - Brian Tanner Enterprise Education Manager - Max Robinson Supported projects in all 5 universities Instigated the Blueprint competition

Value of Business Plans and Competitions Literature is equivocal as to whether formal business plans help business viability (Karlsson and Honig 2009; Castrogiovanni 1996) “Ideas” competitions can enhance innovation (Schepers, Schnell and Vroom 1999) Some evidence that business plan competitions can help businesses rationalise processes (Wen and Chen 2007) Several major competitions running - e.g. MIT $100K (USA), RCUK (UK), Venture 2010 Companies for Tomorrow (Switzerland)

Education or Business Creation? Founded 2003 Regional ? Tension remains but is managed by two-tier structure Regional Competition Principally Business Creation University Competitions Principally Enterprise Education

Structure of Blueprint Year 5 independent university competitions from November to June Some university competitions preceded by “ideas” competition, some have semi-finals 5 independent university judging panels and awards dinners before June Regional competition begins in June 4 Regional classes – Business, Creativity and Design, Social Entrepreneurship (all students or recent alumni only), Knowledge Transfer (staff only – direct entry in June, 1 page exec. summary in August) Two entries per university per class (not required to be winners but good!) Full business plans submitted and sent to judges at end September Pitch to judging panel on day of Finals in late October Celebratory dinner in the evening with awards announced

Pilot Your Pitch Trial pitch to audience of sponsors Constructive but critical feedback Opportunity for sponsors to network with finalists and understand business propositions PR interviews with finalists Regional newspapers feature event

Meet the Finalists Networking event Assignment and meeting of mentors Informal atmosphere Panel discussion

The Finals Special Occasion – Distinctive Trophies Major networking opportunity for finalists and attendees

Finance Individual university enterprise teams run their own competitions, supported by HEFCE HEIF funding Individual university competitions sponsored by business and RDA Regional competition run by Durham University supported by HEIF funding (ca. 0.3 FTE co-ordinator) Regional competition sponsored and supported by business, RDA1 and UnLtd (total cash circa £80K) Substantial cash prizes (e.g. £5K winners for past 2 years, [£10K previous years] with generous runner-up and highly commended prizes) Very large pro-bono support through mentoring, business services (to competitors) and discounts Large PR and marketing budget – resulting in big regional press and media coverage throughout the year 1Serious challenge for future

Two Big Successes from 2005 Amoralia Jules Fossett - Runner-up 2005 Maternity Lingerie 26 outlets in the UK and outlets in 21 countries Transformyourimages Alex Noble - Finalist 2005 Printing photographs on canvas Outlets in 15 cities [inc. Newcastle Eldon Square and Gateshead Metro Centre, Edinburgh Princes Street ]

Impact A journey, not just an event “Thank you for the email, it was great to meet you at the Blueprint event on Thursday. The feedback and advice has sent my brain into a frenzy of brainstorming and excitement. …….  I think the Blueprint awards have really helped me discover my direction in life, but above all, the advice given has enabled me to see the possibilities and I am wholeheartedly determined to make my business a success as I have some very strong reasons to do so. (Above all being passionate about design)” (Email from a 2010 Finalist, who was not a prize winner, to one of the Judges)

Statistics Substantial growth in entries and finalists Quality improvement difficult to quantify

The Recipe? Distinct geographical location of North East England Two-tier structure manages “education-business creation” tension Not just a competition but a staged learning and development process Collaboration between universities (seeded by formal project) Substantial in-kind support from business community (two-way benefits) Substantial cash sponsorship plus HEIF funding

What is indispensable? If funding is substantially reduced, do we cut - Scale, cost, location and glamour of Final dinner (e.g. move to light buffet and awards ceremony)? PR costs? Prize values? Trophies? Intermediate events (e.g. Pilot Your Pitch, Meet the Finalists) ? Mentoring?