Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL), University of Cambridge

Enterprise Tuesday is a series of free evening lectures and networking sessions run by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL), part of Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, from October to February. The aim is to inspire people to pursue entrepreneurial ambitions and build basic business skills.

CfEL's Enterprise Tuesday is a major focus on entrepreneurship for the University demonstrating the application of learning to solve problems and create businesses. Over the past three years, Enterprise Tuesday has grown steadily with over 1000 registered attendees in 2005/06 - more than 600 from the University of Cambridge, other UK Universities and Regional Development Agencies. It is closing the gap between the University and business community with over 170 individuals from local and UK businesses attending the last programme.

The 2006/07 programme boasts an amazing line up of first class speakers including Ren Carayol MBE (BBC presenter of 'Mind of a Millionaire'), Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL (Founder of Cobra Beer), Dr. Hermann Hauser (Co-founder of Acorn and serial entrepreneur), Bert Twaalfhoven (leading European entrepreneur and Founder of Indivers BV), Prof Chris Lowe (Director of the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge; Co-Founder of Smart Holograms and a key inventor of the technology on sensor holograms) and Mary Spillane (world class presenter and image consultant).

Enterprise Tuesday has already inspired many to start up businesses and presents a great opportunity to network with the vibrant entrepreneurial community.

'The very diverse range of people attending Enterprise Tuesday makes this the ideal ground for team building and indeed my company (OptiSynx Ltd.) was founded with another regular Enterprise Tuesday attendee, Dr. Dominic Mikulin', said Dr. Jeremy Sosabowski, CTO, OptiSynx Ltd (www.optisynx.com).

'We have recently been short-listed for the East of England Development Agency's (EEDA) Running the Gauntlet competition. In addition we have also raised a pre-seed finance round, demonstrated the key technology, secured the intellectual property and have had very good responses from customers in many different market segments.'

Jeremy continues, 'I am very much looking forward to the 2006/2007 Enterprise Tuesday events and I would recommend these events to anybody with even a slight interest in business creation.'

The Enterprise Tuesday concept has been copied extensively by other institutions and businesses in the UK and abroad. It has been adapted by Oxford, Luton, Reading, Sussex, Essex, and Auckland NZ Universities. The India Institute of Production and Manufacturing has developed an Enterprise Saturday.

Enterprise Tuesday is run in conjunction with Cambridge Enterprise and the Cambridge Enterprise Agency. It is also coordinated with the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE) business creation competitions.

For further information on Centre activities and to register for Enterprise Tuesday, visit the CfEL web site at www.entrepreneurs.jbs.cam.c.uk