The Enterprise and Innovation Research Cluster aims to stimulate research in all aspects of innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship development. Its scope covers a variety of contexts, including micro, small and large businesses, social enterprise and the public sector.
This cluster brings together research-active academics, across departments, whose theoretical and empirical interests lay at the intersection of themes that further our understanding on how entrepreneurship contributes to economic growth and competitiveness, poverty alleviation and social wellbeing. Areas of research interest include the facilitation of business start-up and growth, incubation, networks, access to finance, critical discourse in entrepreneurship and social enterprise.
The cluster therefore has a strong focus on the application of research to policy issues and expects to stimulate interest from, and make a contribution to, practitioners and policymakers. Research from this cluster also underpins teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes; BA (Hons) Business Studies with Enterprise, MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurial Management unit on the MBA.