BNU and Birmingham Enterprise Community partner on GLIDE sustainable and circular economy course
Buckinghamshire New University has partnered with Birmingham Enterprise Community to offer a free course on the sustainable and circular economy. The course has attracted more than 200 registrations from innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to learn more about creating a sustainable future through business.
As the latest in a series of European Regional Development Fund entrepreneur courses, BNU’s GLIDE project offers online specialist workshops exploring the foundations of sustainable and circular economy business models and what this looks like in practice.
During the four-week course running between 24 January and 16 February, individuals will be introduced to multiple frameworks, practices, models and terms in increasing their overall knowledge, while being able to put this new understanding into real life and business changes.
There is also an opportunity for participants to apply for up to £2,000 in grant funding, engage in 1-2-1 mentoring sessions, access beneficial resources, and to claim partner deals with IBM, HubSpot and Amazon Web Services.
The course is BNU’s latest initiative to both support the business community and work towards a more sustainable future. GLIDE Programme Manager, Nadine Frisk, is excited by the latest contribution: “For business innovators and entrepreneurs, it is no longer as question of ‘Should my business be sustainable?’ but ‘How do I leverage sustainable and circular economy practices to make my business more successful?’ This is a shift we are excited to be supporting and, as evident by the number of registrations, clearly something our business communities are hankering for.“
Daniel Evans, Chief Executive Officer at Birmingham Enterprise Community, added: “It has been shown in order for the UK to hit its sustainability targets by 2030, 9-in-10 people need to be trained in sustainability! This is why a programme like it is so critical for the future. It has been a pleasure for BEC to partner with BNU to deliver glide with a team of world class experts ready to upskill those taking part.”
The GLIDE project is receiving up to £531,893 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
Keep an eye out for updates on how the sustainable and circular economy course benefitted participants and for details of more GLIDE programmes in the coming months.