Why would we as a university want to support entrepreneurship?  Aston University’s purpose is clear: to drive inclusive growth, a purpose rooted in our heritage and place.  

Founded by the industrialists of Birmingham to create a skilled workforce, Aston is located in the heart of Birmingham; a vibrant and highly diverse city built by makers and innovators.  We attract many undergraduates who are the first in their families to attend university, and entrepreneurs who, given the right support, have the potential to grow their businesses, contributing jobs and prosperity to our region. A pioneer of work-based learning, Aston has remained at the forefront of sector initiatives – from the placement year to innovation vouchers – which integrate practical skills into teaching and learning and develop impactful research.  Over time, this approach has developed core capabilities and an internal ecosystem favourable for nurturing entrepreneurs and helping businesses to grow, something now firmly embedded in our strategy. 

Anchoring Aston’s 2030 Strategy are three key words – Inclusive, Entrepreneurial and Transformational – which give a clear statement about the entrepreneurial university we are committed to being.  A key objective to “Transform businesses and communities” guides us to “drive socio-economic impact through transformative innovation and inclusive growth”.  Our purpose is therefore embedded at the highest level of the University’s strategy. It is translated into teaching, research and knowledge exchange through a clear direction, a compelling value proposition and defined impact goals, supported by sustained, strategic investment in entrepreneurial communities and capabilities. That sustained and strategic activity can be demonstrated through the work of the Aston Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (ACEE).

Positioned centrally within the University structure, ACEE supports students and academics in all Schools.  Located in Aston’s externally facing Enterprise Hub, it draws alumni and businesses onto the university campus.  Three pillars, LEARN, START and GROW, provide a structure for supporting the entrepreneurial journey from enterprise skills development through the start-up phase to scaling established businesses.  Each pillar has its own value proposition and activities.  Initiatives across the whole centre foster a vibrant network and cross-fertilisation between the pillars such as the mentoring of student founders by exited entrepreneurs.

Previously known as the Centre for Growth, ACEE’s activities span well over 10 years, starting with two outstanding programmes, the BSEEN student start-up incubator and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme, still key features of the Centre’s work today.  Through working collaboratively with external partners, the Centre built a critical mass of activity and a distinctive expertise in leadership and management programmes helping businesses to scale and promoting inclusive growth within the regional and national ecosystem.  Recognising that barriers to entrepreneurship can be social as well as financial, we connect student founders to that ecosystem, providing role models and supporting them to develop the networks and confidence which build their social capital. 

Navigating the inevitable rollercoaster of externally funded activity and fixed term staff contracts, we steadily expanded our portfolio, launching new programmes such as the mini-accelerator Apollo in 2017 and the Help to Grow Management Course in 2021.  Other initiatives in recent years have seen us:

• Helping business leaders implement social and environmental sustainability strategies in their workplace through our Green Advantage programme,
• Providing leadership training and innovation vouchers to businesses in Shropshire, funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund,
• Working with 100 social economy entrepreneurs and early-stage organisations on strategies to increase trading income, funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority and Commonwealth Games Legacy Fund,
• Taking PhD students through intensive entrepreneurship and AI training designed to equip researchers with the skills, mindset and confidence to engage beyond university and maximise research impact.

To date, 3,200 entrepreneurs have participated in intensive growth programmes, over 500 student founders have been supported to start businesses, and over 11,000 people have attended Enterprise Hub events.

We celebrate many forms of success, and sharing best practice is equally important to us, enabling Aston’s expertise to strengthen entrepreneurship support across the wider sector. ACEE experts developed the curriculum for the government-funded Help to Grow: Management Course, which has been delivered by the Small Business Charter network of UK business schools to thousands of small businesses, supporting growth in every region and helping business schools develop the capacity and networks for their own entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Reflecting on how ACEE has contributed to Aston as an entrepreneurial university highlights some key drivers:

• Delivering a portfolio of externally funded programmes has enabled ACEE to build a skilled team and institutional capability. That team now supports enterprise and entrepreneurship within the University in many ways, from helping module leaders to embed enterprise in teaching and learning, to facilitating the business engagement needed by research academics to validate their work and develop impact.
• Close connections to Aston’s research centres and skilled faculty ensure that our programmes are underpinned by evidence of business need, and that our inclusivity practice is guided by the leading work of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship.
• Building the enterprise community internally has been significant in understanding the many journeys an entrepreneur can take through the university. Our Enterprise Working Group provides a forum for people working across all schools, as well as the Students’ Union, and departments such as careers, research and enterprise, to share information and connect individual projects.
• Externally, ACEE’s role within the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem has created added value for entrepreneurs through partnership working. An example is our leadership of the Pitch Up competition, delivered in collaboration with University of Birmingham Enterprise and Minerva Business Angels.

Above all, our commitment to inclusive growth remains central to Aston’s achievements as an entrepreneurial university, providing a clear focus and coherent structure, guiding decisions about where to invest time and energy, and ultimately enabling us to demonstrate the strategic value and impact of our work.