UCL is delighted to be awarded the Small Business Charter Gold Award in recognition of its world-class expertise, resources and consultancy given to support start-ups and small businesses.
UCL was amongst a pioneering group of 20 business schools to be first given a Small Business Charter award in June 2014. It is now one of only four UK universities to have this award upgraded from Silver to Gold.
Universities and business schools that have received Small Business Charter awards have already directly helped over 18,750 small businesses – working with them through a range of support including on-site incubators with dedicated space for students and small businesses to start up and grow. At UCL, these activities have been delivered by members of departments from across the institution under the direction of the UCL School of Management and UCL Advances, the centre for entrepreneurship.
Dr Dave Chapman, Deputy Director, UCL School of Management said: “We are delighted that the UCL has received a Gold Small Business Charter award. This recognises the high-quality expert advice and training that UCL offers to help small and medium sized businesses grow and achieve their full potential.”
Timothy Barnes, Director of UCL Advances said: “The Small Business Charter was developed to recognise the work of universities in supporting small businesses in their communities. Receiving the Gold Small Business Charter award is a significant statement in support of UCL’s efforts to maximise economic impact and the importance we place on helping all of society to benefit from our knowledge and capabilities.”
Ian McNaught, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter, said: “The Small Business Charter management board is delighted to upgrade UCL’s Small Business Charter Award to a Gold award recognising UCL’s continuous commitment in supporting SME mature growth, complemented by its world class impact. UCL has demonstrated its ability to be pioneering and transformative with their offering to students and small businesses. The Small Business Charter Gold award recognises UCL’s wide provision of effective mature growth support for SMEs, with enterprise at the heart of the institution.”