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Stimulating social and environmental entrepreneurship grammes is called Enterprise Tuesday and is open to all members of the University. An essential ele- ment of this programme is bringing in experien- The 3P ced entrepreneurs and business people to teach and inspire. Finalists for the competition also at- Creation Competition tend a customised intensive training weekend and have access to free surgeries by service providers Jedes Jahr schreibt eine Studentenorganisation der Universität einen which are organised by Cambridge Enterprise. Wettbewerb für Geschäftsideen aus, die soziale Aspekte oder Umweltbelange These taught skills and free advice are comple- betonen. Die Gewinner erhalten einen Geldpreis sowie Zugang zu Gründernetz- mented by the addition of experience which is enabled through pairing up finalists with mentors werken und Kontakt mit Investoren. Der Erfolg: Die Zahl der Teilnehmer steigt, who are practised in entrepreneurship. The men- die Umsätze der gegründeten Gewinnerfirmen auch. tors are organised by Cambridge Enterprise. Much of the teaching and training available to bu- siness competition entrants is relevant to both 3P Von Nicola J. Dee practice of entrepreneurship, to inspire and bu- and £50k, though speakers should be apprised 3P, short for People, Planet, Productivity, is a bu- ild skills. of the audience to avoid alienation of either siness creation competition for socially and en- ● Cambridge Enterprise exists to help University group. 3P entrants are given additional sessions vironmentally explicit which are eit- of Cambridge inventors, innovators and entre- on how to report social and environmental as- her for-profit or non-profit. The competition was preneurs make their ideas and concepts more pects of their business, alternative sources of fi- launched by Cambridge University Entrepre- commercially successful. nance, and the choice of legal structures on neurs (CU Entrepreneurs) in 2003. Its aim was which to form their organisation. to fill a perceived need in the student population How the 3P Competition works CfEL market entrepreneurship in general with for opportunities in social and environmental There are a number of essential elements which competition specific marketing undertaken by CU entrepreneurship. CU Entrepreneurs is a student combine and make the 3P Competition work. Entrepreneurs. One very successful strategy has run society which runs the £50K and 3P busi- These are delivered through close collaboration been to work with course organisers who are ab- ness creation competitions and the £1K business and organisation between CU Entrepreneurs, le to incorporate the development of a business idea competition. Since the launch of the socie- Cambridge Enterprise and CfEL. idea within their course. ty in 1999 they have distributed over 250,000 The time-table of the business creation competi- Essential to making the transition between busi- in prizes and have helped over tion works alongside the academic year (Figure ness idea and business creation is the formation twenty-three new companies get started. 1). Executive summaries are of no more than 1500 of a good team, drawing on help and experience words, and full business plans must be no more from others and building confidence. Networking Context Setting than forty pages in total excluding team résumés. is indispensable in achieving all of these and for The Cambridge high-technology cluster has ear- Each team entering the competition must have at which we provide a variety of opportunities. ned the region the nick-name of ‘Silicon Fen’ af- least one full-time Cambridge University student Success is celebrated throughout the year espe- ter its more famous cousin ‘’. By although competitors are encouraged to seek the cially at the black-tie Qualifiers Dinner, the Win- 2000, around 1,160 technology based compa- involvement of faculty members, alumni, post- ner’s Drinks Evening and Gala Networking Event. nies, employing 38,000 people were based in docs, researchers and other staff and there is no These events raise the profile of our winners, bu- positioning the region as one of restriction on team size. CU Entrepreneurs used ild excitement in entrants and the wider business Europe’s most active high-technology clusters. to facilitate all teaching prior to the formation of community whilst offering thanks to our suppor- Science parks and incubators, networking or- the Cambridge Entrepreneurship Centre but does ters, and have become a key-date in the diaries ganisations, investors’ groups and funds, pro- this now with CfEL. One of the main teaching pro- of many local investors. fessional service providers, public agencies, and technology providers have developed to support Figure 1: Time-table of business creation competition activities for 2004-2005 entrepreneurs and their firms. Intensive training Winners announced weekend for finalists at prize giving In response to the Cambridge phenomena and Submit first round st th executive summary 30-31 January 2005 13 May 2005 support from the U.K. government the University 10th December 2004 mobilised resources to enhance business crea- Finalists announced Submit Full Business at Qualifiers Dinner Plans (finalists only) tion activities from the 1980s onwards. Whilst the- 17th January 2005 21st March 2005 se activities have gone through a number of ite- rations, two offices of the university have been in- strumental in their support for CU Entrepreneurs TIME ● Full Michaelmas Term Full Lent Term Full Easter Term The Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) th rd th th th th 5 Oct – 3 Dec 18 Jan – 18 March 26 April – 17 June delivers a range of educational activities on the Source: CU Enterpreneurs

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Resources for the 3P Competition tructure which judges success by the ability of a The 3P competition is not only providing a start- CU Entrepreneurs is run by student volunteers business to make money. In addition much of our up opportunity for socially and environmental- and therefore incurs few administrative costs, its partners funding is conditional on the support of ly explicit businesses which are either for-profit partners and individuals from the business com- £50k type businesses and they remain slow to res- or non-profit, but also brings an increased awa- munity also volunteer their time. Every year CU pond to the extra needs of 3P. However, new acti- reness of sustainability to the £50K competition Entrepreneurs raises enough sponsorship to co- vities are mobilising which cater for 3P businesses and the Cambridgeshire entrepreneurship sup- ver prize money (£80,000) and money for events and this restricted metric of success is shifting. port infrastructure. Already we are seeing over- i.e. up to £110,000 total. Unfortunately it has be- The competition is judged by the number of ent- laps between the £50K and 3P business creation come increasingly difficult to raise this money; rants and the quality of winners. Last year we ne- competitions and we hope these continue in the therefore prizes are being diversified into servi- arly equalled the number of entrants to the es- future so that these competitions can one day be ces and cash. Part of this year’s prize, for exam- tablished £50K competition which surprised our merged. Contemporary businesses are increa- ple is incubation space at the Science Park. We sceptics. Winners in 2004 included Aidworld and singly judged in the broader framework of sus- approach service providers such as law firms; in- DiagnovIS; both are thriving. tainability as the anthropogenic effects of envi- vestors such as venture capitalists; and other or- Running the competition through a student run ronmental and social neglect become more pre- ganisations to sponsor us. organisation such as CU Entrepreneurs has ex- valent. 3P is timely and successful in building There were various concerns regarding how to ceptional advantages for communication with stu- awareness of sustainable development through formulate the judging criteria. We had heard sto- dents and builds momentum and enthusiasm the creation of sustainable businesses, as re- ries from other social venture competitions which throughout the year’s programme. However, sin- flected in the increasing interest this competi- had experienced conflict among judges as a re- ce the organisation is run by volunteers there is tion has attracted from others wishing to estab- sult of poor judging criteria. We designed the cri- a high-turnover rate which can hinder continui- lish similar competitions. teria in the same format as the £50K competition ty of organisational activities. On a positive note, but tailored it towards 3P and have received po- many CU Entrepreneurs volunteers later become sitive feedback of it from judges. We carefully competition entrants.

chose judges who were experienced in 3P activi- Although the partnership between CU Entrepre- ties, not only for their expertise but also so they neurs, CfEL and Cambridge Enterprise is essential

could cope with any problems incurred during to the professional delivery of supporting activities the judging process. to the business creation competitions, it is some- times difficult to manage. It is easy for partners to ▲ Conclusion try and avoid organisational responsibility whilst The 3P competition is a contrast to the high-tech- capitalising on any positive press. The three orga- Die Autorin Nicola J. Dee ist Doktorandin an der Universität nology high-growth culture of Cambridge. Whilst nisations can easily be confused by outsiders, and Cambridge und Mitglied von CU Enterpreneurs. these businesses are not excluded from 3P, they all rely on outside funding mainly in the form of Kontakt: CU Entrepreneurs, Institute for Manufactu- must be socially or environmentally explicit. It has sponsorship, therefore diluting available finance. ring, Mill Lane, Cambridge University CB2 1RX, U.K. at times been challenging to explain the concept of This partnership is under constant re-assessment E-Mail: [email protected], Website. www.cue.org.uk 3P to the existing entrepreneurial support infras- in order to delineate activities and reduce conflicts.

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