SPEEDing towards a National Award


Posted on 30 July 2014

A business start-up project run at five Midlands universities has been shortlisted for a high profile, national award.

SPEED Plus is a 6 month, part-time business start-up project for budding entrepreneurs.  It is designed to offer university staff, students and alumni,   plus graduates from other universities who are returning to the West Midlands region, the opportunity to develop their hobby or business idea into a real-life business.

SPEED Plus is a £4.2m project and is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. It is run at Keele University, the University of Wolverhampton, Birmingham City University, Coventry University and Staffordshire University.  The project started in July 2012 and aims to create 600 new businesses in the West Midlands by 2015, providing a much needed boost to our local economy.

The SPEED Plus project was submitted to the National Enterprise Educators’ Awards (NEEA) in the HE Enterprise Champions category and SPEED Plus teams in all five universities are delighted to learn that they are one of three shortlisted finalists!

The winners will be announced at the annual International Enterprise Educators' Conference (IEEC), which takes place in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in September.