The Intrapreneurial Knowledge Exchange Enterprise Pathway (IKEEP) begins with fully funded training to equip you with the skills to drive innovation and bring fresh thinking to businesses.
Once you’ve completed your intrapreneurial training, you can apply for a project placement and get the opportunity to take your new skills and help a business solve an innovative challenge.
Andreea Patrunjel, a postgraduate student, studying an MSc in Computer Science at the University of Bristol, took part in the IKEEP programme. She completed IKEEP’s online Intrapreneurial training and went on to apply for and take part in the 4-week project placement. She was matched with a Bristol start-up, Groundwaves, a company which have pioneered some of the most powerful haptic technology, and applied it in a footwear product, fusing the worlds of fashion and technology.
We caught up with Andreea to hear more about her experience with IKEEP…
What attracted you to participate in the IKEEP Programme?
The IKEEP Programme appealed to me through its structure. The amazing opportunity to first complete the training aspect and gain intrapreneurial skills, such as business plan development and management skills and then use that knowledge to solve a real-life challenge within the project placement made me want to take part in this programme.
What did you learn from the Intrapreneurial training?
The Intrapreneurial training provided me with invaluable knowledge. It was tailored in such a way that new concepts were explained very well, where you could practice what you learnt at every stage of the training.
The interactive IKEEP video training session at the end was a nice way to go over the material we learnt from the training chapters and use breakout rooms to discuss our thoughts. It really put emphasis on how important teamwork is. The material recommended at the end of each training chapter provided numerous resources which we could access in order to enhance a particular notion.
What did you learn from the business that you were matched with during the project placement?
I have learnt how important it is to lead with passion, the power to pivot and how these can make a huge difference when you stumble upon challenges. It also gave me a good overview of how you build a start-up. It showed me how extraordinary it is to have the right people in a team to be dynamic, and the steps are undertaken to turn your idea into action.
During my team’s project placement, we worked closely with the founders of Groundwaves to tackle the future customer base for their innovative product. The support we received from them and their open–mindedness to our ideas was truly encouraging.
Would you recommend this programme to other students at the University of Bristol?
I would definitely recommend the IKEEP programme to other students and I would encourage them to apply for the project placement as well as the intrapreneurial training because together they are a very effective and interactive learning process. The IKEEP Programme would also benefit students who have an entrepreneurial mindset but feel like they would want to work within an established company first in order to learn how to navigate becoming an entrepreneur within a company (an intrapreneur) to generate value and allow their ideas to be seen.
Want to get involved?
Release your inner Intrapreneur and set your CV apart from the crowd!
More information about the IKEEP Programme can be found on mycareer.
Any queries, just drop us an email:
uob-ikeep@bristol.ac.uk