How Leeds University Business School can bring region's companies together: Catherine Thristan

Although I’m originally from Derbyshire, I’m actually married to a Yorkshireman so the transition to the North hasn’t been too difficult!

After working in London or overseas for most of my career, I’m excited to have the opportunity to work in the vibrant city of Leeds.

This is the second year the Business School has been involved in sponsoring the Yorkshire Post’s Excellence in Business Awards which took place last night but our first supporting the Innovation Award category.

Looking through the finalists, I’ve been so impressed by the breadth of activity in the region which underlines its leading reputation in business.

At the Business School we’re committed to educating the next generation of thinkers, leaders and world changers, and I was particularly excited to meet with the finalists on the night to share in their success.

The awards are a wonderful opportunity to find ways in which we can support each other.

As a university we’re committed to strengthening our ties with industry partners and stakeholders, and to making a positive impact on our local community.

Earlier this year we held our Business Open Day which was attended by 75 delegates from local businesses and the university.

There was great representation from the SME sector and a wide range of industries. Delegates had the opportunity to network and create valuable collaboration opportunities.

There was also the opportunity to meet with our academic, professional and support team, who showcased the opportunities to collaborate, inspire and learn with the Business School.

We received some very positive feedback from the event, and we’re delighted to say we’ll be running it again next year.

Partnering with Leeds University Business School is a wonderful opportunity for businesses to capitalise on opportunities for growth, as this event showcased.

From direct collaboration and learning programmes to research, insight and inspiration: Leeds University Business School is where academic rigour meets real-world business practice.

It’s also particularly apt that this year the Business School is sponsoring the Innovation Award. We are of course innovators ourselves, keen to share our ground-breaking research and world ranked education to create more innovation through that.

We believe in the power of business education, research and innovation to change the world for the better and are always exploring new opportunities to create growth and deliver real impact.

One example of this is HELIX, the University’s new learning innovation space for students, staff and the local community.

HELIX is the culmination of years of planning around investment to enhance student education at the University of Leeds.

It offers cutting-edge digital provision including immersive technologies and cutting-edge multimedia production studios, as well as a physical makerspace.

It’s been designed to facilitate a community of users within the space – encouraging collaboration and idea generation.

The multi-purpose space also caters for events and conferences, networking and public engagement.

All the spaces are available for industry partners and the wider Leeds community to use for a wide range of digital projects.

We invite you all to be a part of it and transform your ideas into reality.

We hope that our involvement in these awards can help us deliver an even greater impact to our region and create new opportunities in a constantly changing business landscape.

We’re always eager to hear from business leaders to explore the opportunities available to them and show how they can partner with us.

We’re here to support your business goals, collaborate and foster innovation.

If you think your business can profit from partnering with the Business School, we’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch by email at [email protected].

A special supplement on the Excellence in Business Awards will be published with The Yorkshire Post on December 5.