Unlock your entrepreneurial potential

At the heart of innovation and enterprise, EnterpriseTECH and EnterpriseTECH STAR invite thinkers, innovators, and researchers to embark on a transformative educational journey.

EnterpriseTECH and EnterpriseTECH STAR serve as initial steps on a journey into entrepreneurship. Tailored to encourage growth, stimulate innovation, and foster ambition, both programmes draw from Cambridge’s globally recognised ecosystem. They are designed to navigate you from your early curiosity about entrepreneurship to the tangible development of your business concepts, marrying academic depth with hands-on experience.

Who our programmes are designed for

  • Academic researchers. PhD students, postdocs, and university staff who will find tools and frameworks to turn research into impactful ventures.
  • Healthcare and industry professionals, NHS medics, industry and corporate professionals seeking to help inform, infuse innovation into their fields grow networking opportunities to catalyse change.
  • Career explorers. Those transitioning between careers or re-entering the workforce will gain insights into enterprise, develop new skills, expand horizons and professional networks in meaningful ways.
  • Aspiring pioneers. Age or background notwithstanding, if you have a vision to realise or a passion project to bring to life, our programmes offer the support and resources to help you make it happen.

Developing your entrepreneurship skills through real-world projects

On EnterpriseTECH, you’ll dive into real-world projects submitted by inventors, focusing on commercial feasibility research across cutting-edge areas. If these topics excite you, get you out of bed in the morning, underpin your research or professional passions, then you will get a lot out of these programmes personally and professionally.

  • Health sciences, eg genomics and biotechnology, AI/ML, therapeutic modalities, cancer research, bioprinting, nanotechnology, new biomaterials, brain-computer interfaces, robotics and automation, tackling infection and AMR and wearable health tech.
  • Environmental and space tech, eg renewable energy technologies, climate change mitigation, sustainable agriculture, urban sustainability, water resources management, satellites, space exploration and off-planet farming.
  • Advanced manufacturing and materials, eg 4D printing, advanced composites, additive manufacturing, smart materials, nanotechnology, digital manufacturing and IoT, sustainable manufacturing and flexible electronics.
  • Computing and communication, eg edge computing, blockchain, distributed ledger technology, augmented reality and virtual reality, quantum computing, and next-gen networks.

If you want to get really specific, you can see a more comprehensive list of our past projects.

Who we’re looking for

In summary, EnterpriseTECH is a good fit if you are:

  • curious or intrigued by the entrepreneurial landscape and exploring its opportunities,
  • wanting to understand of how to validate the commercial potential of new technologies,
  • enthusiastic about joining a diverse community of learners, leaders, and change-makers,
  • committed to professionalism, excellence and effort on the programme,
  • hold or working towards an advanced degree eg PhD or have appropriate equivalent experience,
  • excellent spoken and written English language skills.

We understand the significance of diverse perspectives in driving innovation, so while intellectual ability, suitable background and mindset are important for admission, we value diversity and the broad range of experiences our participants bring, whether these are based around age, gender or cultural identity. If you believe you’re a good match, then we encourage you to apply.

Meet our 2023-24 EnterpriseTECH cohorts

Join us from anywhere in the world

We’ve adopted a live hybrid format to bring local, UK and international participants together.

If you are not Cambridge-based, we recommend planning for two short stays in Cambridge (at the beginning and end) to benefit fully from the programme.

Watch a video interview

The biggest thing that universities can do to create more innovative science-based businesses is not to get young scientists to do ever more research, but rather to teach them enterprise skills – such as how to talk to customers, how to discover customer needs, and how to structure business models. This is exactly what EnterpriseTECH teaches its students. By giving them a ready-made technology to work with in their projects, they are able to skip a lot of the upfront development work and gain direct experience at taking products to market. Experiences like this are invaluable in producing the next generation of tech innovators. It convenes inventors, students across all disciplines, and business practitioners to seed the next generation of the Cambridge entrepreneurial ecosystem and in that respect, it complements the value that our departments across the University have been delivering. It is truly inspiring seeing the immense capabilities of this new generation of entrepreneurs and we, at the Entrepreneurship Centre, feel fortunate to be able to support them.

Dr Tom J. Simmons, Founder and CEO, Supplant and supervisor for EnterpriseTECH
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