Through our research and education, at Surrey Business School our aim is to inspire positive change that will have a lasting impact on business, society and individuals. Over the past few years, we’ve worked with businesses and beyond in ways that have enabled businesses to access our world-leading academics and top-class students.

We collaborate with businesses across three different dimensions:

• Research collaboration: from digital economy and innovation through fintech and analytics, from organisational psychology through logistics and business modelling, businesses collaborate with our thought-leading academics to push forward the boundaries of knowledge and practice;
• Education collaboration: from MBA students with senior management experience through specialist postgraduate and doctoral students developing new knowledge to undergraduate students with fresh perspectives, businesses have found solutions to their market and organisational problems;
• Commercial collaboration: from academics who want to turn their knowledge creation in products and services to businesses who want to tap into our expertise as they develop new products and services, exploiting commercial opportunities is one of the ways in which we stay rooted in the real world.

You can access our expertise through:

1. Executive Education – We create both bespoke and general programmes to support your business. We can help equip your teams with the knowledge to make sense of cutting-edge business issues in ways that are fit for purpose, innovative and impactful.

2. Consultancy – Academics can support you by deploying their expertise to address the challenges that your business faces. Our MBA students undertake group consultancy projects as part of their learning offering free consultancy and advice with the support of leading academics.

3. Contract research collaboration – Academics can help you move forward by carrying out new research on your behalf. We can help you identify potential academic partners and funding opportunities to work with us.

4. Knowledge transfer – By participating in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), you can get direct access to the latest ideas in the academic world that can help your business identify, adopt and incorporate new skills and the latest thinking. KTPs can be co-funded by Innovate UK.

You can access new talent through:

5. Student projects – Our students can work with you at all stages of their degrees and can undertake projects individually or in groups, short-term or perhaps over a whole semester bringing a blend of experience and new perspectives.

6. Students on placement – Most of our students can undertake work placements either full-time or part-time. In addition, we can help your business solve problems through short-term consultancy placements (usually 3 weeks) and block placements (up to three months) with our PhD students.

7. Fully funded internships – The Intrapreneurial Knowledge Exchange Enterprise Pathway (IKEEP) matches SMEs with teams of skilled students to help actualise innovative projects for businesses through a short-term placement. IKEEP is at no cost to the organisation.

8. Mentoring, advising and coaching – By supporting students or their start-up companies, you can develop your relationship with Surrey Business School, raise awareness of your business among students and academics, and identify student talent for project work or employment.

You can access resources through:

9. Use of our specialist equipment and facilities – Our Business and Economics Experiments lab can help your business carry out testing, analysis, simulation, and trials – either in partnership with us or with our expert technical support. We have new facilities and capabilities in VR/AR/XR which will be available in 2022.

10. License technology – We can help you develop new products, processes and services by licensing technologies from us.

If you see the value in collaborating with Surrey Business School or just want to get more information then please get in touch with the Business Engagement team at Surrey Business School via Adrian Shanks, SBS Business Engagement Officer a.shanks@surrey.ac.uk