Through the institution’s business incubation services hosted from Sparkhouse, a dynamic business support centre, over 940 start-ups and 1100 jobs have been created. Sparkhouse is home to a diverse range of fledgling businesses which offer creative, innovative, tech and digital services. As well as enjoying city centre office space, Sparkhouse businesses also benefit from access to modern facilities, networking events, peer-to-peer support and mentorship opportunities. Through these initiatives, such businesses are able to flourish and grow, often moving on to basing themselves at Think Tank, the University’s second incubation centre for those SMEs further into their entrepreneurial journey.

The Productivity Programme for Great Lincolnshire, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is another great initiative delivered by the University. It is designed to enable micro, small and medium businesses to do things differently through grant funding, business support and collaboration with the academic capacity of the University. Since its launch in 2019, 172 businesses have benefited from its invaluable expert advice, business support and exclusive range of free events. Additionally, 1,692 hours’ worth of specialist advisor support has been delivered by experienced and approachable business advisors and a network of industry experts. The Productivity Programme has also provided over £117,000 worth of grant funding for businesses’ research and development costs to support productivity and growth, and facilitated 96 days of academic support, totalling £29,011.50, from the University of Lincoln’s expert academic and technical staff via our productivity vouchers. Matthew Cox, a luxury decorative interiors brand based in Stamford, was able to launch a VR-enabled app in the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to funding from the Productivity Programme, allowing their customers to “place” visuals of Matthew Cox products in their own environments to ascertain if they were suitable.

The University has supported more than 250 student and graduate start-up businesses through its  Student Enterprise Service, which provides ongoing advice and support to those students seeking self-employment opportunities, while also delivering an entrepreneurship module as part the International Business School’s BA (Hons) in Business and Enterprise Development curriculum. Law student Luke Smith, founder of Seeweed Culture, made use of the service and gained access to business advice and signposting to funding opportunities. His business, which aims to revolutionise the agricultural industry to ensure it is more sustainable in the future, recently won three awards and subsequent funding whilst taking part in the National Finals of Ingenuity which is part of the University of Nottingham.

Lincoln’s Student Enterprise Services also oversees the Growing Graduate Enterprise (GGE) stream of the Productivity Programme for Greater Lincolnshire, which has supported 21 graduates based in county with start-up funding, as well as mentoring and coaching. Two graduates who benefited from the Programme are joint-business owners and videographers, Holly and Matt, who wanted to turn their passion into a viable income. In response to the job market disruption caused by Covid-19, they contacted the GGE team, who were quickly able to help them turn their hobby into a business and provided much-needed vital support throughout those important early stages.

In addition to business incubation, Lincoln aims to have positive impact on regional medical provision by helping to reach the East Midlands Universities’ target of training 5,000 medics and 13,000 nurses. The Lincoln Medical School will bring the region closer to achieving this. The School is a partnership between the University of Nottingham and University of Lincoln and welcomed its first intake of undergraduate medical students, studying the University of Nottingham’s Medicine BMedSci and BMBS in September 2019.  At its full capacity (from 2024), the School will be teaching over 400 students, resulting in approximately 80 students each year graduating and making applications to the Foundation Training Programme. Through the School’s existence, local clinicians will have the opportunity to contribute to teaching the medical programmes, while local health providers will be able to offer placements for students to gain experience in a patient setting. The School’s new programmes will additionally help to attract and retain more clinicians to the area. This video highlights the facilities and services offered by the Lincoln Medical School.

Given the significant barriers to growth and productivity that the region still faces, it has been imperative for the University to focus on areas of comparative advantage as it has grown. Hence, research and innovation activities and strengths have been developed that deliberately link to the assets and needs of the surrounding area along with key industries. The University of Lincoln aims to actively support the levelling up agenda and with tackling regional inequality being core to its purpose, the institution understands it has a role to play to work with Government to increase understanding of the underlying drivers that leave places behind, particularly for rural-coastal, dispersed economies.

 An example of how Lincoln’s research impact can support this important work is a piece of research entitled “Supporting the Delivery and Take-up of Broadband and Digital Technology in Rural Areas”, led by Professor Liz Price, Senior Research Fellow, and including Fiona Ashmore, Ted Fuller, Jane Deville and Gary Bosworth. The research focused on the role that digital can play in the rural economy, looking specifically at the challenges and opportunities associated with rural broadband connectivity and the provision of appropriate business and technical support. As well as establishing the importance of tailored approaches to rural digital connectivity, the team also examined the role that spaces such as Digital Technology Hubs might play in rural economies.

The portfolio of research developed by the team – which has demonstrated the importance to the rural economy of broadband connectivity, tailored support, customised regional approaches and access to digital hubs – and the relationships they have built with partners in the UK and across Europe, has led to the development of an evidence base that has been used to inform priorities, attract funding, support businesses and influence decisions for Lincolnshire County Council and the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnerships.  It has additionally contributed to the development of a new business-led hub (‘Mosaic’) in Lincoln, which opened in October 2019 and now provides physical office space for digital businesses to co-work and to facilitate networking and growth within the sector.