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Focus on Croydon
Focus on Croydon Get FREE BIG Innovation support for your business
Whatever the size of your start-up, SME or third sector organisation – innovation is
relevant to you. Organisations based in South London can get a fully funded programme of support to help design an innovative approach within their business.
Innovation is key for a business to
maintain a competitive edge, at its core innovation is about doing things differently from your competitors. It can be small changes such as evolving your internal processes or workflows, rethinking your business model, or tweaking your product range.
Whatever stage your business is at on its innovation journey, BIG South London can help. This free programme starts with an innovation health check with an experienced mentor focusing on the areas most likely to influence business growth, followed by workshops and matching with the right university partner to accelerate the development of your idea.
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
PHASE ONE: INNOVATION HEALTH CHECK Whether its product development, evolving your service offering or pivoting your business model, this Innovation Health Check will put you on the path to growth and supply you with a tangible plan to keep you on track. In this phase, you will receive a structured one to one introductory session with an experienced mentor, focusing on the areas most likely to influence your organisational growth. Your mentor will help to develop a tailored support plan, pointing toward the right workshops for your stage of business growth and allowing you to make the most of the programme. PHASE TWO: INNOVATION AND GROWTH WORKSHOPS A series of workshops targeted at businesses at all stages of innovation and growth. Whether you’re in the early-stages or are ready to hit the ground running, we’ll have the workshops for you to start implementing strategies outlined in its Innovation Health Check. Topics will include: • Working with your local university • Finding and accessing finance and funding • Developing a new idea • Launching profitable products • How and when to scale-up • Intellectual Property Advice Sector specific workshops will also be available based upon needs identified at the Innovation Health Check. PHASE THREE: UNIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT In this final stage, we can support your business to engage with one of our six university partners. The universities have a broad range of expertise to tap into to accelerate the development of your innovation/business eg clean growth, digital and tech, engineering and general business activity. Support can include: • Expertise matching to find the right university partner • Up to five hours free academic consultancy in specific field • Access to facilities at our university partners premises
New Year, new starter?
The new year is the perfect time to start afresh, and look ahead to 2022 with renewed vigour to tackle the challenges ahead and succeed over the next 12 months.
Employers have spent the past
few weeks setting targets for the year, and there is no better time to take on new people, enhancing existing workforces and bringingin new ideas, thoughts and ways of working in the process.
The Croydon College Group’s World of Work team is working with an existing group of dedicated employers to help shape tomorrow’s workforce today, and are ready to welcome new businesses to support their ambitions for 2022. New for this year are T Levels, with Croydon College and Coulsdon Sixth Form College actively looking for local employers in the Engineering and Manufacturing and Science sectors respectively to support them in giving the skills and workplace experience for the borough’s young people. T Levels follow GCSEs and are equivalent to three A Levels. Starting in September, they focus on vocational skills to help students get into skilled employment, further study or apprenticeships. Students spend 80% of their course in the classroom, with an in-depth, meaningful, industry placement that lasts at least 45 days for the remainder of the course. Employers wishing to play a part in honing the skills of the next generation will get early sight of the new talent in their industries and giving them a head start in their career, can find out more by visiting www.croydon.ac.uk/t-levels/ and
www.coulsdon.ac.uk/t-levels
A number of Apprenticeship vacancies are open at Croydon College throughout the year, with programmes tied to jobs on offer. By employing an Apprentice, employers can help someone earn while they learn the technical and functional knowledge to carry out their job, as well as real-world practical experience to set them up for life. Croydon College is one of the largest Apprenticeship providers and have the knowledge and expertise readily available to help you assist Croydon’s residents into quality and worthwhile employment, while also helping diversify your own workforce. Email
apprenticeships@croydon.ac.uk
to find out how you can give some of the capital’s best and brightest young minds a kickstart to their careers. And while there’s the chance to add to your workforce, it is also worth considering reinvigorating your current workforce and enhancing their skills through the Croydon College Group’s Online Distance Learning Courses. Many of these courses are free and can be worked around staff availability. Available throughout the year, these courses lead to a nationally recognised qualification and our expert tutors will support you remotely, providing you with feedback to help you develop your knowledge and achieve your qualification. To find out more, visit www.croydon.ac.uk/
distance-learning
These courses are driven and facilitated by the College’s World of Work team. If you’re interested in helping shape a course, placement or apprenticeship opportunity around your business, we’d love to hear from you. Email Nicola Tarry, Head of the World of Work – Nicola.tarry@croydon.ac.uk – to start your conversation today.
