The University has a strong enterprise culture and this is particularly evident in subjects like computing. Many staff and students take advantage of Bristol's Enterprise Centre which provides encouragement, expertise and financial support for new businesses. As an undergraduate student you have the option to take units on enterprise as part of your course, and the option to do project work aimed at launching a new business. In addition, you can enter the University of Bristol business plan competition which is open to all members of the University.

The computing industry has developed at an astonishing rate, and new companies are constantly being formed. In the units on enterprise you can learn about how new companies are formed and grow. You will meet people who have successfully set up new companies, and learn about how to plan your own business, and about the nature of high-technology enterprise in general.

If you are studying Computer Science, you can choose to do an enterprise-based final-year project. You can develop a proof-of-concept of an innovative technology (software or hardware or both), and write a plan for a new business based on it.

"Bristol is building on its strengths of world class research and high calibre students to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship - the driving force for innovation and growth in the UK economy.”
Research and Enterprise Development, University of Bristol

Finally, you can choose to enter the business plan competition. The business plan competition is designed to inspire and generate new high-growth businesses and to stimulate entrepreneurial talent at Bristol. The competition is launched in the Autumn each year and is open to students, staff and recent graduates of the University. The competition is sponsored by industry and has a prize fund in excess of £25,000.

Paul Duff PhD Graduate

My route to Bristol was a slightly unusual one; I first attended Oxford University for a year before deciding that their degree course was not offering what I was looking for. After taking a year out I started my undergraduate degree. The modules I took ranged from theoretical, individual work to more practical group projects. For example, in my second year I worked on a group project developing a system to control the University's radio station remotely. I learned about the dynamics of working as a team as well as more personally driven work, both of which helped a great deal in later enterprises.

My final year project provided some insight into more research-based work, and when I graduated with a First I decided to continue my studies at PhD level. I further developed skills in writing, publishing and presenting work which proved to be essential when I later entered the University's New Enterprise Competition with a fellow PhD student. We received a lot of useful advice as students new to business, and after winning First Prize have gone on to form a medical devices company developing systems for people with spinal cord injuries. We have won further national prizes including one from the Royal Academy of Engineering plus a Medical Futures Innovation Award, and now have four employees in our first office at the University's SetSquared business acceleration unit.

The social side of University life has also played an important part in my time here. I have traveled around the world by train with university friends, performed on the stage with dance societies and run the Fresher's Fair stall as President of the computer society. These have led me to new friends and widened my outlook beyond the university. Enterprise and entrepreneurship are about social contact and networking as well as ideas, and the University provides an ideal setting to develop both of these.