Impact Report 2022-2023

Impact Report 2022–2023 Launch into the Entrepreneurship Institute’s Impact Report charting our 2022-23 journey, a year of brilliant ideas, start-up success and lots of entrepreneurial spirit!

1

Cover photo: Michele Tieghi, King's Alumnus (Business Management BSc) and co-founder of German Kraft Brewery

1. About Us

3

2. Message from the Director

4

3. What we learnt this year

6

4. The year in numbers

7

5. Community and Engagement Welcoming new students

8

Festival of Disruptive Thinking

8

Venture Crawl

10

King's Entrepreneurship Week

13

6. Entrepreneurial Skills

14

Enterprise Award

17

Entrepreneurial Summer Internships

18

Operations Superstars

19

Researcher Masterclasses

20

Circle U. Challenge

22

7. Results from our Upskilling Initiatives, 2022-2023

23

8. Developing Ideas

26

Idea Factory

29

Engineers in Business Competition

30

Changemakers

31

Women Entrepreneurs Network

32

Women Entrepreneurs Retreat

35 36

9. Starting and Scaling Ventures King’s20 Accelerator

39

King’s20 ventures by SDGs

40

Demo Days & Awards

41

King’s Innovators

42

10. Diversity & Inclusion

44

11. Sharing Knowledge across King’s & Beyond

53

2

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

About us The Entrepreneurship Institute (EI) is the dedicated hub of entrepreneurial activity within King’s College London. We believe that everyone can be entrepreneurial, and that entrepreneurial people can help make the world a better place by solving problems, creating a healthier, smarter, more equal and sustainable future.

For almost 200 years, King’s has been striving to improve the world. The EI continues and advances this legacy in line with King’s Vision 2029.

We support all students, staff and alumni at King’s to develop an entrepreneurial mindset supporting whatever career or future they have in mind. Some will launch start-ups of their own.

We nurture knowledge and ideas from across King’s, contributing to a society of pioneering leaders, creative problem solvers and innovative thinkers, who are equipped to tackle the most pressing challenges of today, and those that lie ahead.

3

4

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Message from the Director This year 1,000 students, staff and alumni at King’s became more entrepreneurial.

They learnt to think disruptively, generate ideas to solve problems, and validate those ideas to deliver change and impact, all in line with King’s vision to make the world a better place.

Some of our new entrepreneurs went on to form ventures, start-ups and spinouts.

To date, ventures supported by us have raised £100,527,150 in investment, generated £83,573,446 in revenue and created 1286 jobs for our economy and economies around the world.

We continued our commitment to exploring equality, diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship through our Women Entrepreneurs Network, now over 1,000 members strong. We also launched new initiatives, like our Changemakers programme, to help students from a widening-participation background engage in entrepreneurial opportunities.

In an increasingly interconnected but challenging world, it’s so special to see people stepping forward with ideas that offer solutions to problems, and it’s an honour to be able to support them. It’s inspiring to see how King’s continues to serve society through entrepreneurship and we are delighted to play our part in this.

My thanks go to the Entrepreneurship Institute team who continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Their energy, resilience and agility has helped us through this year.

We hope you enjoy reading our 2022-2023 Impact Report.

Julie Devonshire OBE Director Entrepreneurship Institute

5

What we learnt this year

Collaboration is key

Greater diversity in entrepreneurship can happen

Working with different partners and building collaborative relationships both in and outside of King’s, supports scaling and promotes learning and knowledge exchange. This year we collaborated internationally through our work with the Circle U. Alliance and delivering Venture Crawl. Our ongoing partnership with the IP & Licensing team will expand support for spinouts and researchers at King’s.

Taking risks pays off This year we delivered a range of new projects to help us break down the barriers to entrepreneurship, fill gaps in unmet needs and reach new audiences. This approach has seen us improve engagement with students across different subject areas, and with specific target groups, including women founders (Women Entrepreneurs Network) and students from a widening participation background (Changemakers programme).

We have more exciting projects in development that will come into fruition next year, including a new online learning platform, for students, staff and alumni to access at any time. This will sit alongside our scheduled programming, to improve access for our community.

6

The benefits of increasing diversity in entrepreneurship are well-documented but are rarely achieved. Delivering new and targeted initiatives with select groups at King’s, has seen the diversity of our community increase in other programme areas. Opening this year’s Women Entrepreneurs Retreat to universities beyond King’s for the first time, enriched conversations with new insights and perspectives.

Sharing our learnings enhances the ecosystem Taking time to share our learnings from our programmes, strategies and approaches with others, helps entrepreneurship education more broadly. Through knowledge sharing opportunities with the Circle U. Alliance’s growing Female Founders Network or Labour’s start-up review, we have shaped discussions, influenced decisions and cemented King’s leading role in entrepreneurial skills.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

The year in numbers

19,318 11,742

103

Social Media followers

54

Newsletter subscribers

3,000 People engaged in

Complete the Enterprise Award

Participants in the Researcher Masterclasses

21

Ventures scaled

18

University-partners in Venture Crawl

10

Summer Interns

entrepreneurial activities

1,600 Hours of skills learning for Summer Interns

1,100

8Spinouts

Members of the Women Entrepreneurs Network

accelerated

1,000 572

Upskilled in entrepreneurial skills

7

Changemakers

Hours of Operations Superstar support

7

Community and Engagement

We deliver low-barrier to entry and large-scale activities throughout the year to inspire the King’s community to take their first steps on their entrepreneurial journey.

Collectively these activities reached over 1,000 people across King’s in 2022-23 (as evidenced by applications and event sign-ups) and converted over 800 to active participants.

Welcoming new students We designed a two-week programme of online and in-person activities to welcome new students to King’s in September. 10 events introduced over 400 UG and PG students to the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset, and student ambassadors (Operations Superstars) represented the EI at Welcome Fairs across campus, signposting over 500 students to subscribe to our newsletter.

We also facilitated introductions to the EI during faculty inductions in King’s Business School (KBS), the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences (NMES).

8

Festival of Disruptive Thinking Following last year’s successful pilot, the Festival of Disruptive Thinking returned for a second year, this time condensed into a week of activity, with seven online events. Six out of nine faculties were represented amongst this year’s speakers, each demonstrating how they are disrupting within their field of research or industry. Topics included: colourism in the UK, artificial intelligence and ethics, robotics in healthcare, the future of law and people power changing the energy system.

Over 140 people attended the online events, 43% of which were King’s staff, providing a unique opportunity to engage both professional service colleagues and academics in the world of entrepreneurship.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

9

Venture Crawl Launched by King’s in 2017, Venture Crawl is a day-long exploration of our local entrepreneurial ecosystem, bringing students closer to entrepreneurs, innovation hubs, collaborative workspaces and start-ups.

The experience aims to inspire students and develop their self-confidence, creative thinking and leadership skills.

After two years online, Venture Crawl returned in-person in 2023. Over 100 King’s students applied to take part and 31 went on to visit the Grind Roastery, Crisis Venture Studio, Mercato Metropolitano, German Kraft Brewery and Science Gallery London.

17 other universities also participated in Venture Crawl this year, expanding our reach and collaboration with 13 institutions in London and five in the UK and overseas, including University of Sydney and DePaul University in Chicago. Collectively we engaged 360 entrepreneurially minded students and graduates in Venture Crawl and involved 48 partners in our programming.

The day finished with an online Pitch Off event where 10 London universities battled it out to be crowned this year’s London Venture Crawl Pitch Champion. We replicated the same model with UK and international participating universities.

10

83% of King’s students that applied to take part would like to have a business or social enterprise in the future, but 90% felt they lacked the networks to get started.

“All the different partners we visited were interesting and had a different approach to doing business. I liked meeting like-minded people from different courses and learning what business or start-up they’re interested in.”

Akanksha Balhara, Economics and Finance MSc student (KBS) and Venture Crawl 2023 participant.

“It was great to be encouraged to network and talk to as many people as possible. I also really liked how we managed to get some 1:1 time with some of the CEOs and have our questions answered. The whole day inspired me to work further on my own idea.”

Viktoria Petrova, 4th year German and Management BA student (Faculty of Arts & Humanities – A&H) and Venture Crawl 2023 participant.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

11

12

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

King’s Entrepreneurship Week

Entrepreneurship Institute's Digital Community in numbers

We continued to nurture collaborative working relationships with key Student Groups at King’s to reach new audiences.

Following last year’s successful pilot, we delivered King’s Entrepreneurship Week (KEW) for a second time.

18/2019

19/2020

21/2022

22/2023

21,814

KEW is a festival of events curated for students, by students. Working with King’s Business Club, Enactus KCL and King’s Entrepreneurs, we successfully delivered 10 events in a week, reaching over 550 people and engaging 162 event attendees.

We achieved our goal of reaching more students beyond KBS, with 80% of sign-ups coming from other faculties at King’s.

We scaled our efforts this year by including a hackathon in the programme for the first time. Five very engaged teams pitched ideas linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and received support from our Experts-in-Residence during a mentoring session. On average attendees reported that they gained knowledge in three out of the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset.

20/2021

26,828

28,492

31,649

32.263

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

Digital Community Our digital community continues to grow year on year and in 2023 exceeded 32,000 members: 19,318 social media followers and 11,742 newsletter subscribers.

13

Entrepreneurial Skills

Entrepreneurship is for everyone and anyone can become more entrepreneurial. This year the EI upskilled 1,000 students, staff and alumni in entrepreneurial skills, helping them to discover an entrepreneurial version of themselves.

Entrepreneurial skills content is delivered on the curriculum, through co-curricular programmes, the organisational development system and other personal development training systems.

Our Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset framework is the foundation that underpins entrepreneurial skills learning across all our programmes and activities.

These skills can be applied to any sector, any career and any future; helping those equipped to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges to make it a better place.

It’s clear our message ‘entrepreneurship is for everyone’ is spreading and reverberating across King’s as we continued to upskill our community.

14

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

11 15

16

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Enterprise Award Enterprise Award is a year-long, co-curricular programme which is designed to take participants through the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset to enhance their employability and career ambitions.

The programme encourages participants to explore and discover the world of entrepreneurship and London’s start-up ecosystem by attending events and workshops, and engaging with other resources such as podcasts, videos and reading materials.

We strongly believe in fostering community, promoting opportunities for participants to buddy up and work in groups. The Award contributes to each student’s Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR), which can be showcased to employers.

This year 284 people signed-up to participate in the Enterprise Award. Of these 103 went on to complete the Award, with 99 students and four staff in the cohort. Students from the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy (SSPP) were the highest represented (23%), followed closely by students from NMES (20%); demonstrating that entrepreneurial skills have broad appeal across King’s.

As part of the Award, each participant is required to complete a pre-and-post skills assessment, so that we can better assess and track the movement in entrepreneurial skills development over time. This year’s data again demonstrates how we’re increasing confidence and levels of skill: • Overall participants increased their confidence levels by an average of 26% across all Seven Skills.

• The biggest confidence boost came in the ‘Validate’ skill, improving participants ability to test their ideas and seek unbiased feedback.

93% of participants would recommend completing the Enterprise Award to fellow students.

“I found it a very good opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone and explore new things. I am doing a non-businessrelated degree, so going to different entrepreneurial events and learning business skills was very interesting. I don't think I would do this if I didn't participate in the Enterprise Award.”

Daria Mityukova, Medicine MBBS student (Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine - FoLSM) and Enterprise Award 2023 participant.

17

Entrepreneurial Summer Internships Nine-week internships provide current King’s students with first-hand experience of working in a start-up environment; with opportunities to acquire key entrepreneurial skills such as positive disruption, team building and thinking lean, as well as practical knowledge in business planning, sustainability, sales and digital marketing and product development.

Feedback received after the programme shows that many of the interns now have an evolved definition of what ‘entrepreneurship’ is (i.e. entrepreneurship is not just a business, it’s about broader social impact). All interns developed all Seven Skills but saw particular growth in ‘Get it Done’ (+20%), ‘Compel’ (+18%) and ‘Think Lean’ (+16%), as captured through their pre-and-post assessments.

This year we advertised 10 different roles, including Digital Growth Analyst, “I enjoyed the freshness of someone passionate Marketing & Communications and Business and just out of undergraduate studies, and the Development. The King’s20 ventures aided ideas they brought to the table.” with role creation, recruitment and management processes, giving them an insight into building Dr Christos Bergeles, and scaling their own teams.

Founder of Rev.Eye.Talise.

All nine faculties were represented amongst the 165 applications. We prioritised applications for students from a widening participation background and asked candidates to confirm if this would be their first experience of an office-based role, to further drive upskilling in an employability setting. 49 students were shortlisted for interview and 50% of those recruited went on to work for solo founders.

Over nine weeks, we provided 1,600 hours of skills and employability development.

At the end of their internship, all interns were invited to share their reflections at a final showcase event, hosted in collaboration with participants on the Changemakers programme.

Combining both programmes into the same nine-week period, provided both cohorts with access to a supportive, meaningful and peer-driven community.

18

Read more from some of this year’s interns on our website: • Asiaf Simdul (Biomedical Sciences BSc student, FoLSM) who interned as a Business Strategist at Rev.Eye.Talise.

• Hanh Nguyen (Global Health & Social Medicine and Biosciences BSc student, FoLSM) who took up the role of Digital Growth & Analysis Intern at Safetyknot.

• Rianna John (Children’s Nursing BSc student, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care – NMPC) who worked as a Strategic Marketing & Research Intern at Enhanced Fertility.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Operations Superstars Operations Superstars are paid opportunities, provided by the EI, to support current students to learn entrepreneurial skills and build an ‘entrepreneurial edge’ to their CV. They work on a variety of assignments including event support, mentoring fellow students on Enterprise Award and captioning our learning materials to ensure our resources are accessible to a diverse audience.

This year 12 Superstars from A&H, KBS, Dickson Poon School of Law, FoLSM and NMES, joined the EI. They completed 572 hours of paid work across 61 opportunities offered throughout the year. 93% agreed that the role was the highlight of their King’s experience and 80% agreed that the role had helped them secure their next job or development opportunity.

Each Superstar developed their overall level of confidence with the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset, with the greatest increases in ‘Compel’ and ‘Validate’, enabling them to confidently communicate with others and seek feedback on their ideas.

“As a Law student, I wanted to become a Superstar to learn more about entrepreneurship, as this is not covered on my course, whilst developing skills to use in future job applications. The thing I’ve liked most is the range of different activities I’ve undertaken, including attending focus groups, coming up with ideas and talking to different students. I’ve never encountered such an emphasis on personal development in any of my previous jobs.”

Selin Akdemir, 2nd year Law LLB student (Dickson Poon School of Law) and Operations Superstar.

19

Researcher Masterclasses

The world of entrepreneurship offers real-world career paths for researchers at King’s and their specialist knowledge. Regardless of discipline, entrepreneurial skills help researchers to grow as academics, giving them practical tools to pioneer new ways of thinking or convey their research effectively to any audience.

This year we expanded our Impactful Researcher Masterclass Series from two to four sessions and opened them up to the whole research community at King’s. The four sessions covered Personal Effectiveness, Disruptive Thinking, Compelling Communication and Effective Collaboration, with content tailored specifically to researchers to enhance innovation and impact.

54 researchers participated, with FoLSM and the IoPPN represented most amongst the attendees.

Key highlights from post-session feedback include: • 100% of participants in the Disruptive Thinking Masterclass felt this workshop had grown their confidence in this skill.

• 100% of participants in the Compelling Communication Masterclass found the content extremely useful for their future career.

• Over 90% found each workshop relevant and easy to understand.

• All four workshops rated 4.4 or over out of a 5-star rating for enjoyment.

20

“The Disruptive Thinking session will broaden your horizons about how you do your PhD (from research to submission).”

Masterclass on Disruptive Thinking participant, anonymous.

“If I had this knowledge earlier, it would have made my project easier to manage.”

Masterclass on Personal Effectiveness participant, anonymous.

“This is the most useful masterclass I’ve done so far for my PhD, it will help with writing grant applications, presenting at conferences, networking and many other aspects of an academic career.”

Masterclass on Compelling Communication participant, anonymous.

“Very informative masterclass that will enable you to develop transferable skills.”

Masterclass on Effective Collaboration participant, anonymous.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

21

Circle U. Challenge

Unique to 2022-2023, the Circle U. Challenge brought together international and interdisciplinary student teams from nine partner universities in the Circle U. Alliance, to develop solutions to authentic challenges faced by civic partners in our regions, cities and communities.

Students could choose from one of six challenges presented by Aarhus University, Université Paris Cité, University of Oslo, University of Belgrade and King’s College London, with each based on a social, environmental or health problem relevant to their region.

The King’s challenge was designed in collaboration with the London Borough of Lambeth and South London and Maudsley Hospital (SLaM) and aimed to address the critical issue of mental health for Lambeth residents aged 0-25.

182 students applied to participate in the King's challenge and 27 teams were formed and invited to attend a digital bootcamp to develop a solution. 13 teams submitted an idea and five teams were chosen to receive further mentoring. The five teams pitched their innovative solutions at a pitch event, with one team – Wandering Emotions – selected to attend the Showcase event in Belgrade.

22

“This Circle U. Challenge meant a lot to us as mental health is such an important topic.

We are grateful for this opportunity which allowed us to develop our project for early intervention and prevention of mental illness, as we believe it can have a real positive impact in the community of Lambeth. A huge thank you to our mentors for their ongoing support to strengthen our proposal.”

The Wandering Emotions team – Abbie Chay, Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health MSc student (IoPPN), Akira Futura, Education MA student (SSPP) and Kazi Unysah Nabi, Biomedical Science BSc student (FoLSM).

“I was impressed by the enthusiasm of each group and that they worked together to harness the expertise within their group to put forward a solution to benefit the population of Lambeth. The winning team won because I thought it would be possible for their idea to be replicated across other boroughs.”

Sabrina Phillips, Lambeth Living Well (Circle U. Alliance Civic Partner).

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Results from our Upskilling initiatives, 2022-2023

We know that students, staff and alumni at King’s typically move through three stages as they upskill: 1. E ngage: Express an interest in a programme – sign-up for an event, submit an application.

This year over 3,000 expressed an interest in our skills programming and over 50% went on to actively participate. 1,000 completed a pre-and-post skills assessment, enabling us to tangibly measure skill development across multiple programmes.

2. Participate: Complete one of our programmes.

3. Upskill: Complete our programme and our pre-and-post-skills assessment showing that they have developed one or more of the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset. This measure was introduced in 2020-2021 and evidences students’ upskilling and by how much.

Total since 2019:

3108

6874

1648

4119

1000

1827

Since 2019-2020 we’ve seen consistent growth across all three stages, engaging more than 6,500 people in our entrepreneurial skills offer: 2000 Engaged 1500 1379

Participated

1817 1130

1000 955 500

Upskilled

570 386

420

407

19/2020

20/2021

21/2022

22/2023 23

Our Upskilling initiatives, 2022-2023 These results demonstrate the average percentage change in levels of confidence between pre-and-post assessment at a group level, across the Seven Skills framework.

Build teams: Confidence seeking out opportunities to engage with people from different backgrounds; cultivating a positive and inclusive culture; dealing with conflict between others.

Enterprise Award +2o% Entrepreneurial Summer Internships +11% King’s20 Accelerator +11% Operations Superstars +14%

Commit to Growth: Confidence in stepping outside your comfort zone; keeping an objective mindset for greater clarity; fostering personal and professional networks for guidance and support.

Compel: Confidence in constructing and delivering a presentation and pitching; confidence in leadership style and articulating a clear vision with persuasiveness.

Enterprise Award

Enterprise Award +32%

+18% Entrepreneurial Summer Internships

+18%

+9% King’s20 Accelerator +17% Operations Superstars +9% 24

Entrepreneurial Summer Internships

King’s20 Accelerator +23% Operations Superstars +20% ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Disrupt: Confidence in analysing a particular context and spotting opportunities for change; challenging how things are done and designing solutions that respond to today’s global challenges.

Get it done: Confidence in prioritising workload; maintaining motivation, accountability and focus; leaning into new challenges knowing progress is made by tackling the tasks which stretch us.

Enterprise Award

Enterprise Award

+23% Entrepreneurial Summer Internships +10%

+19% Entrepreneurial Summer Internships +20%

King’s20 Accelerator +12%

King’s20 Accelerator +14%

Operations Superstars +9%

Operations Superstars +12%

Think lean: Confidence in testing ideas to gain objective feedback; making incremental improvements on an idea rather than aiming for perfection immediately; and considering the conservation of resources by designing out waste.

Validation: Confidence in understanding the problem before jumping into solutions; designing objective questions to gain unbiased feedback; generating traction as proof of need.

Enterprise Award

Enterprise Award +35%

+30% Entrepreneurial Summer Internships +16% King’s20 Accelerator +19% Operations Superstars +14%

Entrepreneurial Summer Internships +13% King’s20 Accelerator +17% Operations Superstars +18% 25

Developing Ideas

The EI offers a range of supportive activities to help students and staff to develop new ideas that solve problems.

Our flagship idea generation competition, Idea Factory, takes ideas from ‘light bulb’ moment through to viable business proposition.

Workshops support students and staff to develop and refine their ideas, with access to 1:1 support and validation exercises. Prizes include funding, mentoring, office space and more.

In 2022-2023, we introduced two new targeted initiatives to engage specific groups in entrepreneurship:

These initiatives build on our existing work with women entrepreneurs through the Women Entrepreneurs Network (WEN). Established in 2019, WEN aims to achieve gender parity across the EI’s activities. Prior to its formation, our King’s20 Accelerator had only ever received 25% of applications from women founders, whereas accelerators internationally had only reached 20%.

We have now achieved gender parity on the King’s20 four years in a row and continue to share our methodologies and learning with the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem to improve access for all.

• the Engineers in Business Competition was added to our Idea Factory competition, to invite innovative ideas from Engineering, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences students and alumni.

• the Changemakers programme aimed to redress the barriers to entrepreneurship facing students from a widening participation background.

26

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

27

28

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Idea Factory Idea Factory is King’s College London’s flagship “I really enjoyed the process as it motivated idea generation competition. The competition me to really develop my idea from just a empowers budding entrepreneurs within the fleeting thought to an actual business plan, King’s community by showcasing their new and I think all these skills will be highly ideas, which have the potential to grow into transferable to any venture in the future.” viable and successful businesses.

Maneeha Naveed, Participants take part in supportive workshops Psychology of Neuroscience & Mental Health to give them the skills to validate the problem MSc alumna (IoPPN), Founder of Dastarkhãn, they’re trying to solve, think about sustainability and Idea Factory 2023 finalist. and generate and pitch ideas with clarity, confidence and enthusiasm.

“Taking part in the competition definitely This year we received 39 competition submissions from across the King’s community.

10 teams went on to become finalists, each receiving more support before the Final Pitch Off event, to refine their idea through live pitch feedback from their peers and 1:1s with our Pitch Coach.

Following 3-minute pitches, our judging panel awarded four winners from KBS, FoLSM, IoPPN and SSPP a share of £10,000, alongside a 12-month support package, including mentoring by the EI’s Head of Entrepreneurial skills and Experts-in-Residence.

Throughout the process, all participants saw increases in levels of confidence across ‘Think Lean’, ‘Validate’ and ‘Compel’, equipping them with problem solving skills, the ability to test and iterate their idea with unbiased feedback and confidently present a clear vision.

89% of participants would recommend taking part in Idea Factory to fellow students.

helped me to move my idea forward in terms of marketing. I received congratulations from people all over the world after posting about my win on social media and have had people expressing an interest in collaborating and hearing more about my idea.”

Nawal Yousaf, Medicine MBBS student (FoLSM), Founder of Fitra Health and Idea Factory 2023 winner.

Read more from some of this year’s Idea Factory winners on our website: • Fitra Health (1st Place), founded by Nawal Yousaf, Medicine MBBS student (FoLSM).

• LaYas Life (Runner up), founded by Nasreen Hasan, Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health MSc student (IoPPN).

• ARENA (Runner up and People’s Choice Award Winner), co-founded by Yassin Ali, 2nd year Political Economy BA student (SSPP).

29

Engineers in Business Competition New for 2022-2023, the Engineers in Business Competition (EIBC) was incorporated into this year’s Idea Factory competition, to invite innovative ideas from Engineering, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences students and alumni.

Funded and delivered in partnership with the Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF), a registered charity promoting the importance and value of business education for engineers, the EIBC sought to develop ideas to address the UN SDGs. Participants had access to Idea Factory workshops run by the EI, to support idea validation and to develop pitching skills.

30

13 students applied and three finalists went on to pitch their ideas, with one winning £3,000 to further develop their idea.

“I feel honoured, blessed and grateful to receive incredible feedback and support.

The prize money will facilitate further research and testing. I am really excited to see what the future holds.”

Rumeesa Rais, MedTech Innovation & Entrepreneurship MSc student (KBS and FoLSM), Founder of Heard and EIBC 2023 winner.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Changemakers Changemakers is a new programme that is delivered in a similar format to an internship.

Instead of working for someone else, King’s students are paid to work on a problem they’re passionate about solving. The solution might be an idea for a new business, a not-for-profit or a community project.

Funded by Santander Universities, the programme is open exclusively to students from a widening participation background and aims to address the barriers to entrepreneurship that exist for these groups.

We know from our own research that students from widening participation backgrounds are more likely to face systemic barriers in connection to access, networks, resources and funding when trying to start a business.

Changemakers seeks to directly redress this imbalance, whilst enhancing students’ employability and their propensity to positively impact the world.

Over the course of nine weeks, students attended training and mentoring sessions with the EI team and Experts-in-Residence to learn the fundamentals of identifying a problem, creating a viable solution and getting the solution off the ground. They also worked independently to develop an idea or project through conducting customer research and validation, competitor analysis and defining a value proposition.

49 students applied to join the programme and seven went on to develop ideas relating to connection and human intimacy, making speciality coffee more accessible, mental health, dairy-free protein products and improving access to services.

“My experience on the programme has been transformative. Engaging with a diverse group of passionate individuals and learning about the inspiration behind their ideas has been very enlightening. I joined for the experience, and it has exceeded my expectations. I have learnt so many new things and have developed many new skills.”

Saarah Yazmin, 2nd year International Development BA student (SSPP) and Changemakers 2023 participant.

Read more about this year’s Changemakers on our website: • Anna Muchiewicz, 3rd year Molecular Genetics BSc student (FoLSM).

• Anuj Rasarathnam, 1st year European Politics BA student (SSPP).

• Ami Jemide, 1st year Law LLB student (Dickson Poon School of Law).

• Brendan Rogan, 2nd year Computer Science BSc student (NMES).

• Saarah Yazmin, 2nd year International Development BA student (SSPP).

• Sonia Ubong, final year Medicine MBBS student (FoLSM).

31

Women Entrepreneurs Network

The Women Entrepreneurs Network (WEN) aims to achieve gender parity across the EI’s activities, with a key aim to build gender-parity, sustainably, into the King’s20 Accelerator and beyond.

The network is open to all students, staff and alumni at King’s who identify as women or non-binary. It increases members’ exposure to entrepreneurial skills, knowledgesharing and support through a like-minded community of women.

In 2022-2023 we delivered 1,545 hours of skills learning to 220 women entrepreneurs at activities held throughout the academic year. We also increased community membership to over 1,000 people.

32

This year, programming focused heavily on collaborative knowledge sharing, both within and outside of King’s. WEN presented at the Circle U. Alliance’s growing European-wide Female Founders Network in Oslo and Paris, the latter at a retreat for female-identifying students from all universities in the Circle U. Alliance. We also opened our WEN retreat to other universities and their communities for the first time.

WEN community members continued to influence and engage with political and policy-driven conversations, joining a roundtable discussion in March hosted by MP and Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Abena Oppong-Asare. Each founder shared their experiences and needs when running, funding, and scaling their ventures. They were joined by a host of international delegates representing the United States and German Embassies, as well as the British Chamber of Commerce and angel investors.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

33

34

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Women Entrepreneurs Retreat Our three-day weekend retreat is an annual stand out event for the Women Entrepreneurs Network.

This year we brought together 67 exceptional woman entrepreneurs from King’s, and for the first time, eight other universities in London and beyond. The group attended 22 hours of interactive skills-focused sessions designed to identify their customer base and deepen their knowledge of sustainable disruption, pitching and monetisation strategies.

Sessions are designed in line with the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset framework and provide practical, actionable, and transferable skills, as well as valuefocused exercises to give each attendee a plan and resources to support continued business momentum. After the retreat, 84% of attendees said they felt more confident to pursue their venture and 94% would recommend the retreat to other women entrepreneurs.

The retreat also provided an opportunity for us to share our learnings from supporting women entrepreneurs over the last five years and broaden our efforts to make systemic change in entrepreneurship for female founders, beyond our own King’s community.

This annual event has been key to consistently achieving our KPI of gender parity on the King’s20, and we anticipate that this year’s retreat will be equally as impactful.

“I learnt so much every day. It would have taken me years to have gained this knowledge.”

WEN Retreat 2023 attendee and student from NMPC. “I really enjoyed the overall vibe and got a lot out of every session. I learnt so much, but my real take home was being in the company of relaxed, happy and inspirational women, having wonderful conversations and imagining better futures.”

WEN Retreat 2023 attendee and alumna from A&H. “There was a great mix of theory and practice and the women at the retreat were all amazing entrepreneurs.”

WEN Retreat 2023 attendee from the University of Oxford.

35

Starting and Scaling Ventures

The EI supports ventures to scale through the King’s20 Accelerator. Since launching in 2015, we have supported 140 ventures from across King’s to grow and develop with dedicated access to funding, mentoring, workshops and office space.

All ventures are working towards the UN SDGs and many of them can demonstrate their contribution towards tackling climate change. The King’s20 Accelerator is also the only UK university accelerator to have sustained gender parity amongst its founders.

Over the last seven years, 140 King’s20 ventures have collectively generated:

The King’s Investor Network is key to developing the ventures. This year we have grown our network by 36% resulting in 792 subscribers on our investor mailing list. Our focus on relationship building has enabled 42 ventures and spinouts to be introduced to 273 investors and partners in the last year alone.

£83,573,446 Revenue £100,527,150 Investment £9,488,389 Grants 1,286 People employed

36

From 2024, we intend to change the timings of the Accelerator to better optimise ventures’ chances of becoming investment ready.

Doing so will leverage greater opportunities within the investment space, more successfully and earlier than ever before. 2024 will also see the launch of a bespoke online programme, designed to further support idea development and scaling.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

37

38

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

King’s20 Accelerator

The King’s20 Accelerator is our flagship programme supporting the 20 brightest and highest-potential ventures from across King’s. The Accelerator is open to all King’s students, staff and alumni with ventures or ideas that have at least reached the validation stage of development.

During their year with us, they receive an estimated £60,000 of support which includes access to a co-working space in the EI hub in Bush House, weekly coaching from Expertsin-Residence, access to a network of investors and partners, funded interns, grant funding opportunities, free accounting, £10,000 of cloud computing credits; as well as 70+ learning hours on building leadership, resilience and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Sustainability content is also embedded throughout the entirety of the programme to support each venture to actively contribute to one or more of the UN SDGs. To date, three ventures in this year’s cohort are actively working on B-Corp certification.

We received 95 applications for Cohort VII, from which we selected the 21 highest-potential ventures. 62% of the applications were from women-led ventures and 61% were from alumni, with most applications coming from KBS. Sectors represented amongst the cohort included social impact, tech, education and healthcare.

100% of participants said they would recommend the King’s20 Accelerator to others.

“The King’s20 programme has been a turning point in my journey, providing invaluable support and guidance for my business whilst also pushing me to grow confidently as an entrepreneur.”

Shikha Ramjutan, Pharmacy Alumna (FoLSM) and Founder of Resèt By the end of the 12-month programme, the cohort had collectively generated:

£297,832 Revenue £650,000 Investment £400,800 Grants 37 People employed

39

King’s20 ventures by SDGs

1. No Poverty

Since 2021, we have been tracking how our portfolio of King’s20 ventures are contributing to the UN SDGs through their ideas.

Note: some ventures contribute to multiple SDGs:

3. Good Health and Well-being

101 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

44 13. Climate Action

24 40

4. Quality Education

5. Gender Equality

55 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

10. Reduced Inequality

6

3

11

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities

12. Responsible Consumption and Production

41

52

67 15. Life on Land

5 7. Affordable and Clean Energy

6. Clean Water and Sanitation

34

65 14. Life Below Water

13

2. Zero Hunger

17. Partnerships for the Goals

16. Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

10

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

7

16

Demo Days & Awards London Demo Day

David Walsh Awards

London Demo Day is an annual collaboration that introduces investors to the best and brightest innovations at London universities with founder-owned IP. Ventures are in the early-growth stage and looking to raise between £100,000 - £1.5 million.

The David Walsh Awards is a grant programme designed to champion and celebrate the demonstration of entrepreneurial leadership shown by our King’s20 ventures.

The event returned in-person this year, with 15 ventures from Imperial College London, UCL and King’s College London pitching to an audience of 500, including students, leading investors, partners and alumni, who gathered in the Great Hall at Imperial.

Five ventures from the King’s20 Accelerator were selected to pitch on behalf of King’s – Haule, Conduit Bio, Malebox, Smile and Uwana Energy. Ventures covered sectors including retail, digital health, biotech, wellness and clean tech and represented the huge breadth of ideas and talent coming out of London’s top universities.

This year’s awards aimed to prioritise the personal and professional development of the founders themselves. The funding could be applied to a range of ideas to increase their entrepreneurial profile or invest in interventions to overcome daily challenges.

Six ventures received funding this year and all were female founders; empowering them to engage in unique opportunities to invest in themselves and subsequently create a positive outcome for their businesses too.

41

King’s Innovators Over the last few years, the EI has been partnering with King’s IP & Licensing team to support and scale cohorts of innovators at King’s. Known as ‘spinouts’, these innovators are companies that have been developed from King’s research, founded by current researchers and PhD students.

Following its success, this support is now being rolled out as a permanent programme.

We continue to be involved in plans to progress the pipeline for the translation of research innovation for commercial pathways.

“It was a great opportunity to be introduced to new investors, update them on our ongoing In 2022-2023 we received 14 applications activities and meet other King’s20 members from innovators to join the King’s20 Accelerator, to cross notes on their experiences within further enhancing our faculty engagement with the accelerator and their ventures.”

IoPPN, FoLSM and NMES. Eight spinouts went on to scale their ideas, receiving 12 months Davide Danovi, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical of intensive support including mentoring, & Life Sciences (FoLSM) and Scientific workshops, access to desk space, investment Co-Founder of Migration Biotherapeutics Ltd. opportunities and more.

Read more about how Migration Biotherapeutics Ltd are exploring the commercial potential of their research on our website.

42

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

43

Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity is a key driver for innovation.

Diversity of experiences, backgrounds, characteristics, lifestyles, perspectives, talents and more underpin the development of new and disruptive ideas that drive change and progress.

Every year we monitor the diversity of the community that are engaging with our programmes. The Equal Opportunities data shared in this section is declared by individuals engaged in our programming, at their own discretion. The results are benchmarked against overall student profiles from the King’s EDI Annual Report.

44

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

FIGURE 1.0

Gender at King’s College London

Men Women

Participation by women in our programmes is very high, and we are reporting above average for King's overall, which is testament to our work and efforts to achieve gender parity. Cohort VII of the King's20 Accelerator had 55% women-led ventures.

King's College London Students

Non-Binary Prefer not to say

Enterprise Award

34%

38% 64%

56%

1%

2%

0%

0%

0

25

50

75

100%

Women Entrepreneurs Network

0

25

50

75

100%

40% 89%

51% 2%

0% 11%

25

7%

50

75

100%

Summer Interns

0

25

50

King’s Entrepreneurship Week

20%

33% 70%

67%

10%

0%

0%

0

100%

Venture Crawl

0%

0

75

0%

25

50

75

100%

0

25

50

75

100%

45

FIGURE 2.0

Disability at King’s College London Declared a disability

We continue to strive to make all our programmes as accessible as possible through hybrid delivery. However, we know we can do more, especially when it comes to representation within our storytelling.

King's College London Students

No disability declared Prefer not to say

Enterprise Award

15%

15%

81%

82%

3%

0

5%

25

50

75

100%

Women Entrepreneurs Network

0

25

50

75

Venture Crawl

13%

11%

89%

80%

7%

0%

0

25

50

75

100%

Summer Interns

0

25

50

75

8%

80%

92%

0%

46

100%

King’s Entrepreneurship Week

20%

0

100%

0%

25

50

75

100%

0

25

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

50

75

100%

FIGURE 3.0

Ethnicity in the sector and at King’s Whilst our data continues to be encouraging, there is still more work that we can do, particularly when it comes to representation across our entrepreneurial community.

King's College London Students

Chinese

Mixed & Other

Black

Arab

Prefer not to say

Asian

Latin American

Enterprise Award

48%

25%

100%

100%

75

75

50

50

25

10%

White

37% 23%

10% 3%

2%

2%

0%

22%

0

100%

100%

75

75

50

50

25

11% 0%

0%

4%

1%

Venture Crawl

37%

33%

11%

5%

0

Women Entrepreneurs Network

22%

9%

5%

25

15%

0%

18%

25

14% 6%

2%

5%

8%

7%

0

Summer Interns

0

King’s Entrepreneurship Week

50%

100%

100%

75

75

50

40%

25 10%

50

42%

17%

25

17%

17% 8%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0

0%

0%

0%

0

47

FIGURE 4.0

Affiliation to King’s (participants) The EI supports all students, staff and alumni at King's to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Whilst some programming is prioritised for particular groups, it's great to see people from across the King's community developing their skills and ideas.

Festival of Disruptive Thinking

Venture Crawl

40%

100%

43%

0%

18%

0%

0%

0

0%

25

50

75

100%

King’s Entrepreneurship Week

0

25

50

75

Enterprise Award 96%

70% 2%

4%

7%

0% 0%

21%

0

25

50

75

100%

Summer Interns

0

25

50

75

48

100%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

0%

25

100%

Operations Superstars 100%

0

100%

50

75

100%

0

25

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

50

75

100%

Student Staff Alumni External

Researcher Masterclasses

Idea Factory

0%

82% 100%

0% 18%

0% 0%

0

0%

25

50

75

100%

Changemakers

0

25

50

100%

75

100%

Women Entrepreneurs Retreat 100%

27%

0%

9%

0%

25%

0%

0

75

39%

25

50

75

100%

King’s20 Accelerator

0

25

50

King’s Innovators

19%

0%

5%

86% 32%

0% 43%

0

25

50

14%

75

100%

0

25

50

75

100%

49

FIGURE 5.0

Faculty representation (participants) Entrepreneurship is for everyone and anyone can become entrepreneurial. Our evidence of active participation from all King's faculties is testament to this, but we can still do more to engage particular subject areas.

100%

75

50

25

0 Festival of Disruptive Thinking

50

Venture Crawl

King’s Entrepreneurship Week

Enterprise Award (completers)

Researcher Masterclasses

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Idea Factory

Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Dickson Poon School of Law

King’s Business School

Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences

Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences

Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care

Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

Professional Services

100%

75

50

25

0 Summer Interns

Women Entrepreneurs Retreat

Changemakers

King’s20 Accelerator

King’s Innovators

Overall faculty engagement summary

51

52

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT

Sharing knowledge across King’s & beyond Throughout the year the EI team has worked with different partners across King’s and the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem to transfer and share knowledge to support the betterment of the entrepreneurial landscape, in the UK and overseas.

This activity demonstrates how we are using our experience and expertise to create benefits for the economy and society beyond academia.

Highlights include: • Bush House hosted Enterprise Nation’s biggest start-up show of the year, opening King's doors to 2,000+ members of the public, including founders, freelancers and entrepreneurs.

• Presenting our work on sustainability, entrepreneurship and the Seven Skills at the International Enterprise Educators Conference (IEEC) and winning best in track for our contributions.

• Our connections with the Circle U.Alliance and Women Entrepreneurs Network saw us share our learnings from five-years of supporting female founders with other European universities.

• Presenting our work on the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset at GCEC, the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres Conference in Las Vegas.

• We hosted a first of its kind cross-university pitch event to hear about work linked to Climate & Sustainability across King’s. Two King’s20 ventures joined the speaker line-up.

• Julie Devonshire OBE participated in a start-up review chaired by Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. • Our King’s Investor Network came together The review explored how the UK can ensure for a new sustainability clinic on Fundraising start-ups continue to boost jobs, investment and Investment, helping our founders to and economic growth. futureproof their funding pipelines with sustainability in mind.

53

King’s College London Entrepreneurship Institute @InnovateKings @kingsentrepreneurship @kingsentrepreneurship ei@kcl.ac.uk 54

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE IMPACT REPORT