This week is set up in quite a logical order. First, channel your mental energy into creating some brand new ideas Tuesday evening with the help of iCUE and SIE. Then on Wednesday afternoon, learn about the market research tools that are at your finger tips, but that most people overlook. Wednesday night, cheer for your favourites at the E-Club pitching competition (£1000 at stake!), touch base with the developer world at TechMeetup, or skip both to celebrate commercialisation at the uni (who knew 14th Oct would be such a busy night?!). Then be inspired to keep the ball rolling with Thursday’s impressive speakers, and make some new connections at Edinburgh Coffee Morning (every Friday!) if you have some energy left – always worthwhile. Good luck!
LAUNCH.ed explained: Tuesday 13th Oct, 4pm at Informatics Forum G.07
For any students or staff at the University of Edinburgh, Becci Difford will enlighten you on the LAUNCH.ed help we are lucky to have. Highly recommended for anyone not already in the loop… ‘LAUNCH.ed supports students with technical, early stage ideas as well as non-technical, near-to-market business ideas. Students, from undergraduates to PhDs and recent alumni, can access one-to-one help from a business advisor on all aspects of setting up a business. In the last eight years, LAUNCH.ed has helped more than 50 students form their own companies, many of which have grown into successful, profitable enterprises. We also run workshops, clinics and competitions and provide mentoring, hot desks and a library of resources and online tools.’
iCUE Idea Generation Workshop: Tuesday 13th Oct, 7-9pm at Appleton Tower LT1
Get your thinking caps on, and Anthony Ives of SIE will make the most of your brain cells with some inspirational brainstorming. Magical things happen in iCUE – which is pronounced IQ but stands for Innovative Consulting University of Edinburgh – for that is where we bloggers first bonded (flashbacks here). We love Anthony and we love iCUE, so what more can we say? Oh yeah, free pizza and beer! Try to email hilary.singer@ed.ac.uk to RSVP, but think anyone is welcome to show up.
SCOTBIS training: Wednesday 14th Oct, 12:15-1:30pm at KB – Hudson Beare Rm 4
You can spend days hunting around Google, dead-ending at expensive documents you can’t access, or you can learn to navigate the public library’s special market research resources (SCOTBIS = Scottish Business Information Service). I’ve been meaning to learn this stuff for 3 years, so do your future self a favour and come along if you think it might one day be relevant for you. More details in our earlier announcement, and email stephanie.ashford@ed.ac.uk to RSVP.
E-Club Pitching Event: Wednesday 14th Oct, 6:30pm at Business School (7 Bristo Sq) LT1
Real pitches, real dragons, and real money make this E-Club night especially exciting. Learn the art of pitching, listen as the judges interrogate 5 brave contestants, and send good vibes to your favourite pitchee as someone’s wallet will be made £1000 fatter. Of course free wine afterward to recover from the stress and tension never hurts. As usual, no need to RSVP, just join in the fun.
Working in a Wired World: Wednesday 14th Oct, 6:30pm at Informatics Forum
Brought to you by BCS Edinburgh, this cool-sounding talk will focus on how social media can make you and your
organisation more effective. Euan Semple, experienced ex-BBC guy, will discuss the major changes going on in how people communicate, what the changes mean for business, and how they represent exciting opportunities. The talk is free, refreshments are available from 6pm, and I don’t think you need to RSVP. If you make it here, we’d love to hear what you think or what you take away from the event.
Edinburgh TechMeetup: Wednesday 14th Oct, 7pm at Appleton Tower 8th Floor
A monthly must for anyone in the tech startup scene – developers, programmers, entrepreneurs, students, community members, and curious bystanders. Most importantly, there will be free pizza and beer =). Join in on the 8th floor of Appleton Tower, Chrichton Street. No RSVP or tickets needed, it’s a very open and inviting bunch.
ERI 40th Anniversary Dinner: Wednesday 14th Oct, 7:30pm at Heriot Row
‘Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, requests the pleasure of your company with a guest, if you wish, at a buffet super to celebrate research and commercialisation success at 7.30pm on Wednesday 14 October 2009 at Heriot Row, Edinburgh.’ If you didn’t get the invite to this Edinburgh Research & Innovation celebration, start earning your pass to the 41st anniversary meal by E-Clubbing or TechMeetuping tonight. Too much good stuff!
Overcoming Stigma Through Enterprise: Thursday 15th Oct, 4pm at Business School (7 Bristo Sq) LT3
Significant political re-orientations towards – and within – indigenous communities have stimulated public interest in indigenous enterprise as a form of economic development that can redress chronic social inequality. Drawing on the moving life-narratives of indigenous entrepreneurs we use the sociologist Erving Goffman’s (1963) concept of stigma to show how becoming “enterprising” enables indigenous Australians to cope with the experience of having their identities spoiled by persistent structural disadvantage and endemic racism. Hear from Dr Simon Down, Deputy Director of the Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise (KITE) at the University of Newcastle. Everyone is welcome!
Inspirational Women in Computing: Thursday 15th Oct, 5:30pm at Informatics Forum
Young professionals in IT, computing undergrads and postgrads, and curious folks are all invited to this Edinburgh University Hoppers event. The main speaker is Karen Winney, Business Services Director for Procter & Gamble, and she will be joined by speakers from Dundee University, Barclays Capital, and Google! As if that’s not enough, there will also be a free buffet dinner, plus networking drinks kindly sponsored by Procter & Gamble, Barclays Capital and the School of Informatics. Free tickets are sold out at the moment, but you can keep your eye on their eventbrite page for any lucky extras.
StartupCafe 
I’d not heard of iCUE – it would be interesting to know a little more about them?
Certainly! iCUE is a society at Edinburgh Uni that runs projects to help members gain enterprise skills. Their biggest project in recent years is putting on The Apprentice Edinburgh, an annual business competition with four rounds of cool challenges. They run several other events throughout the year – from club nights to blood drives – and also do consulting projects for companies and startups.
This year looks like a very strong bunch, as they’ve got Launch.ed. running workshops throughout the year, and their list of current projects is posted here: http://www.icue.co.uk/projects/. If you need some young talent to help out your company – market research, events organisation, marketing, or brainstorming – they’re a useful resource =).
Would be great to see an article on iCUE at some point.