1. A 7-year Blueprint for Inspiration
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

2. 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
Director - Brian Tanner
Enterprise Education Manager - Max Robinson
Supported projects in all 5 universities
Instigated the Blueprint competition

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

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

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

9. 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

10. 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 ]

11. Impact A journey, not just an event
“Thank you for the , 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)”
( from a 2010 Finalist, who was not a prize winner, to one of the Judges)

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

13. 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

14. 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?