Ideas to Innovation (i2i), delivered through the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship, has been designed for ambitious final year PhD and post-doctoral researchers looking to unlock their entrepreneurial and creative potential. This programme encourages research students to consider the social and economic relevance of their research.
Within the i2i programme you will:
- Explore entrepreneurship as an option for corporate innovation and new venture creation.
- Gain a fundamental understanding of business.
- Develop knowledge of how to commercialise your research.
- Develop a network of likeminded researchers facing similar challenges.
- Have the opportunity to apply for a digital Entrepreneurship: Impact of Research badge to recognise your accomplishment.
This course encourages researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and business professionals from multiple disciplines to talk to each other “outside the box”. The programme helps you explore your desire to take your research to market, understanding creative methods, team building, cultures and communications and the fundamentals of business. By the end of the course you will have had fun, learned about yourself and your ideas and how to communicate them effectively.
You will have met a huge network of smart entrepreneurial people, feel that you are amongst people with shared values and hopefully feel encouraged to take your research forward into society.
Within this three-day entrepreneurial programme, we combine large scale plenary sessions with small group activity. Each group has two facilitators to transfer the learning from the plenary – to guide and support you. We feel that this format enables you to consider the social and economic relevance of your research and will equip you with the skills and know-how to turn your ideas into action.
Agenda
Dates: 27 – 29 January 2027
i2i Programme Summary
Day One enables an understanding of personal values, motivations and direction.
Day Two focuses on the importance of building teams, as well as generating potential impact pathways for your research.
Day Three looks at the basic elements of taking an idea and turning it into a product or service and how to communicate it with passion.
Speakers
Manish Singh
Dr Manish Singh has over 20 years of experience spanning academia, entrepreneurship, and corporate human resource management in India and the United Kingdom. His work focuses on connecting academic learning with practical business impact through teaching, research, and enterprise engagement. Before joining academia, Manish held senior management roles in global organisations, where he contributed to business capability development and organisational transformation through strategic stakeholder collaboration. He holds a PhD in Leadership and Management and an MBA from 乐播传媒 School of Management, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies from the University of Delhi. At 乐播传媒, Manish combines teaching, research, and enterprise leadership to advance entrepreneurship education and practice. He actively contributes to 乐播传媒’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through mentoring, applied research, and managing initiatives that link the university with industry and innovation networks.
Facilitators
To be confirmed.
Who should attend?
i2i is for:
- Researchers within Centres of Doctoral Training and partner institutions.
- Third year/final year doctoral candidates across multiple disciplines.
- Postdocs from multiple disciplines.
If you are unsure if i2i is for you, please contact Manish Singh at Manish.Singh@cranfield.ac.uk鈥痜or more information.
Location & travel details
The Gallery - CMRI Building 38, 乐播传媒, 乐播传媒, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL
Download a visitor guide鈥痠ncluding map, directions and health and safety information.
Accommodation
Please contact 乐播传媒 Management Development Centre directly +44 1234 751122 for accommodation bookings.鈥疨lease note, all participants will need to cover their own accommodation costs.
乐播传媒 Enhance: Digital badges
The opportunity to showcase your skills to prospective employers via your social media profile has become increasingly important and on successful completion of i2i and a short assignment, you can earn this digital Entrepreneurship: Impact of Research badge to recognise your accomplishment. The badges are widely recognised by employers as a mark of expertise and dedication.
This badge is part of the 乐播传媒 Enhance Entrepreneurship offering hosted by the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship. Become more resilient, cultivate your problem-solving skills, encourage creative thinking and resourcefulness, and learn valuable soft skills such as communication, negotiation, leadership, and teamwork, which are essential in your personal life and professional career.
