Entrepreneurship and Innovation Subject Group
Entrepreneurship and Innovation drive the constant evolution of business and societies. Our expertise, research, and teaching help ensure that individuals, businesses and government can harness these forces to create a more sustainable and inclusive future for all.
About our subject group
We have a diverse range of academic expertise in entrepreneurship and innovation. We aim to further our understanding of these fields in ways that are relevant to organisations, public policy and practice.
The group is dedicated to:
- cutting-edge research
- educational excellence
- sharing our knowledge and expertise
We achieve this through our continuous engagement and collaboration across various sectors and organisational settings, both locally, regionally and internationally.
Our work supports:
- entrepreneurs
- innovators
- policymakers
We are at the forefront of addressing contemporary issues faced by entrepreneurial and innovative firms, as well as public and third-sector organisations.
Undergraduate degrees
Entrepreneurship and innovation are interwoven into our undergraduate programmes. They help students develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
We offer a variety of modules focused on entrepreneurship and innovation across the Business School's undergraduate programmes.
Research
Our research contributions include:
- high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles
- research monograph books
- research and policy reports
- book chapters
Below are some examples of our recent work. These projects contribute to a deeper understanding of creative industries, workplace dynamics, and rural entrepreneurship. They address challenges, pose innovative solutions and influence policy and practice globally.
Creative Fuse North East
Funder: UKRI, AHRC, European Regional Development Fund
Creative Fuse North East brings together expertise from the region’s five universities to support the vibrant, dynamic, and fast-growing creative, cultural, digital and IT sectors. Our experts work with and support:
- industry bodies
- cultural organisations
- creative practitioners and freelancers
- social enterprises
- the public sector
They work to identify how creative firms can:
- complement and add value to one other
- share best practice
- encourage innovative ways of working
Workaday Bravery: Reconceptualising Workplace Courage
Funder: Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship
This fellowship focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of how systemic dysfunction in workplaces has led to the deterioration of safe and meaningful forms of work. Workplace courage in modernity may involve the incremental accumulation of experiences that erode not just the fabric of the job, but the experience of it. These pressures are likely to be amplified over time.
Entrepreneurial Universities Engagement and Collaboration with Rural Communities
Professor James Cunningham and Dr Chiara Marzocchi
Funder: NICRE’s Research and Innovation Fund
The innovation and entrepreneurship needs of rural-based SMEs, social enterprises, and micro businesses often differ from their urban-based counterparts. This project examines how entrepreneurial universities engage with, support, and collaborate with rural communities.
Exploring Entrepreneurship in Rural Market Towns
Funder: NICRE’s Research and Innovation Fund
Rural market towns provide broader structural contexts that host and shape entrepreneurship. Through ethnography, this project investigates the way entrepreneurship occurs, and how entrepreneurial actors interact in market towns. It also explores how rural entrepreneurs:
- respond to and reshape the structures around them
- subjectively encounter constraints and enablers of entrepreneurship
The research focuses on two themes:
- how family dynamics play a part in entrepreneuring
- how golf is used to manage entrepreneurial identities within rural business networks
Research collaboration and engagement
We engage and collaborate with a range of external stakeholders for research and educational purposes.
Some of our recent engagements include:
Dr Natalya Radko has undertaken a mentor role for entrepreneurial teams for the Enterprise Event, as part of the BBSRC NLD Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) between Newcastle University, Durham University, and Liverpool University.
Dr Lucy Hatt was guest speaker at the NE Enterprise Educators Community of Practice at the University of Sunderland, where she presented on the topic "Dropping the E Words".
Dr Natalya Radko conducted two workshops for entrepreneurs at Gateshead Business, Gateshead Council. These focused on:
- defining needs for the businesses
- lean start-up
Professor Jonathan Sapsed, Chair of the Creative UK North East Strategic Advisory Board, has been actively involved in several external engagement activities, including:
- Advising the Department of Business and Trade on evaluating the Help to Grow programme
- Advising the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the Creative Industries
- Advising the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on an horizon scanning exercise on Culture, Media and Sport
- Representing Newcastle University at the Queen's Anniversary Trust Coronation Challenge event at National Theatre, aiming to develop policy on CreaTech with stakeholders from policy, industry and academia
These collaborations, and others, enable us to continue to advance entrepreneurship and innovation in meaningful ways.
Staff
Our expert staff are dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship and innovation through:
- cutting-edge research
- impactful teaching
- meaningful collaboration
Our current subject group head is Professor James Cunningham.