Budding entrepreneurs from across the world flocked to a conference at Churchill College, Cambridge yesterday (5 September) to find out how they could grow their business.

Experts from the University of Cambridge were among the prestigious group of speakers to give advice during the day on how to improve the performance of new and innovative businesses.

Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Director of the Judge Business School spoke to the packed audience on “success factors for technology clusters and the Israeli model”.

Billy Boyle, a Cambridge Alumnus and former Research Associate in the Microsystems and Nanotech group at the University of Cambridge and now the co-founder of the successful detection technology company Owlstone Ltd, also spoke on the topic of “breaking into the USA early”.

Alongside the conference, there were demonstrations of some of the most exciting leading-edge technology being developed by early-stage companies and University Departments.

This included University spin-out company Enval, who have developed a technique to recycle complex laminate waste. The company is opening the first prototype facility that provides an efficient and cost-effective alternative to sending waste plastic and aluminium laminates to landfill.

"The conference provided a really valuable forum for entrepreneurs - both from within the University and the local high tech community - investors, academics and support service providers to come together and share experiences of growing successful international businesses,” said Dr Tim Minshall, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge Centre for Technology Management and one of the speakers during the day.

“Events like this are really important for helping to support the on-going growth of Cambridge as a successful hi-tech business cluster."

The conference, first held in 1997 and currently organised by St Johns Innovation Centre, has been the springboard for numerous enterprise-oriented events around the UK.

The seven conferences to date have been attended by over 2,000 delegates representing 22 countries, and have featured over 200 speakers from the top ranks of entrepreneurs, investors and experts from around the world.

For more details about the event and to find out more about Cambridge Enterprise, responsible for commercialising University technology, click on the links above right.

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