A startup in Leicester which aims to develop SME’s by connecting them with academia is sponsoring the next Leicester Startups popup coworking day.
UniWorx was started three years ago when one of the founders Alex Wade was working for a consultancy to undertake a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Leicester. Noticing there was a significant amount of work with no guaranteed returns, he started working with academics on how to do more for less.
“UniWorx was born from a passion to enable/unlock innovation in SMEs by identifying projects with the organisations and connect them with University courses and groups of students to undertake an industrial project to develop a minimum viable product (MVP).
“We use our connection with Engineers in industry who can then supervise those groups, bringing world class Engineering into the heart of the UKs SME. We provide this support to the SME/Start-up for zero cost.”
UniWorx will be sponsoring the Leicester Startups On Tour co-working day on Wednesday 20th November at the Grand Hall of St Martins House Conference Centre.
“Half the UK economy is in SMEs. We want to engage with them to identify day to day problems, or discuss something they want to try and do, but have a lack of resources (knowledge, budget, time) to tackle.
“The output from the student project can then help build a business case for continued investment, set up a follow-on project, or it could be a complete failure, allowing the SME to put the idea to bed and move on.”
During the co-working day there will be a Meet the Founder talk with Dhruvesh Ranpura of Tuck, an informal startup clinic session and a tour of St Martins House.
You can register for the popup cow-working day here: OnTour-StMartinsHouse.eventbrite.co.uk