Students at the University of Worcester were invited to present in front of a host of businesses across the region.
Students working in the Worcester Media Lab spoke to delegates at the Worcestershire Innovation (WINN) business innovation event, called Knowing Me, Knowing You.
Located at the University’s City Campus, the Worcester Media Lab, is a design and development lab led and run by University of Worcester students, who are supported by University teaching and business staff. It aims to deliver quality products or content at low cost. Students involved come from a range of disciplines, including budding web developers, video creators, mobile developers, designers and illustrators.
Students working in the Media Lab were invited to present at the Knowing Me, Knowing You event, held at the University of Worcester Arena, which explored how well businesses know their suppliers, customers or the support available to them. It also looked at ways to get to know your business in-depth, how to scope out your competitors and ways to build your market position. Other speakers included a representative from Midlands law firm Thursfields Solicitors, independent technology solutions company SCC, a start-up business and a market strategy coach. The talks were followed by a networking event, giving students the chance to broach their ideas to those in the industry and collaborate with other businesses and innovators in the region.
Oscar Capdevila, a Computing student from Barcelona who works in the Media Lab, was one of those that addressed the event. The 19-year-old said: “We had a few people come up to us who were interested in getting some advice regarding their website, but mainly we were there to introduce the Media Lab to businesses some of whom were unaware of it so hopefully now they will understand how we can help them. I also got the chance to listen to many interesting people with amazing ideas.”
WINN has recently put funding towards a series of videos being made by the Media Lab, assisted by industry coaching from local digital marketing experts.
The University’s Enterprise Manager, Nicholas Bancroft, who oversees the Media Lab, said: “This event was useful for our students to attend to enrich their learning experience and make valuable industry connections. It was also a great opportunity to promote the activities of the Media Lab and its innovative student model and hopefully engage more local businesses to support our work. By giving students live briefs to work on, they gain valuable experience of working with businesses locally and nationally, helping them to know what to expect when they take up jobs post-graduation and giving them valuable skills, such as how to deal with real clients. In the competitive job market, we believe this will be an advantage to our students.”