From Early Career Researcher to Entrepreneur

Overview of the Event:

We are excited to be holding an event, hosted by the Entrepreneurial Postdocs of Cambridge (EPOC), that will bring together researchers from different institutions and disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship and business. We have a stellar line-up of speakers, including Dr Su Metcalfe (Cambridge University), Dr David Halpern (Behavioural Insights Team), Dr Carmen Lefevre-Lewis (Facebook), and Dr Rachel Carey (Zinc).

It will be an interactive and informal session, that will highlight individual stories of academics who have transitioned to entrepreneurship / business, and stimulate conversations around how researchers can build their own businesses, including associated challenges and opportunities.

Schedule:

18:00 - 18:20: Registration and refreshments

18:20 - 18:30: Welcome and introduction of speakers (Zinc team & EPOC)

18:35 - 20:00: Individual presentations followed by a panel discussion and Q&A

20:00 - 20:30: Networking and refreshments

Context for the Event:

Many university researchers have skills that are extremely transferable to business / entrepreneurship, but the extent to which they can move fluidly across sectors varies greatly from one discipline to another. For decades, it has been common for researchers in the life sciences to move between academia and business. This is now increasingly common for researchers in the computer sciences. But this is not the case for all disciplines. The objective of this event is to open a conversation about the world of business and entrepreneurship for researchers, and to foster collaboration and connection among a community of researchers and entrepreneurs.