A major research project led by
Northumbria University to improve recruitment and career prospects for young
people and boost business performance has held an international networking
conference in Northumberland.
Many young people are entrepreneurial and can add
huge value to a business or organisation, yet they often experience frustration
in their careers. At the same time employers around the world report a skills
mismatch and difficulties with managing young talent. It is a global issue that
must be tackled, and Global and
Entrepreneurial Talent Management 3 (GETM3) is about fixing this disconnect.
GETM3is a £1 million EU-funded Horizon 2020
research project. It involves a consortium of eight higher education
institutions and eight businesses in five countries exploring why employers
across the world struggle to recruit and retain younger employees within their
workforce.
Over the
past two years GETM3 has held nine international research networking events,
and worked with people from across Europe and the USA, Mexico, China, Taiwan
and Tanzania. And it has recently held its 10th event in Newcastle
which included a training session at a former bath house for miners in Broomhill,
Northumberland, which is now being used by a group of local artists who share
the space to collaborate and support each other’s businesses.
Following the theme of “entrepreneurs
collaborating”, international researchers from GETM3 teamed up with the artists
and graduate entrepreneurs from Northumbria in a Creative Confidence session, learning
about the techniques of “pure creativity” employed by artists.
Dr Alison
Pearce, Project lead for GETM3 and Associate Professor at Northumbria’s
Newcastle Business School, said: “It was wonderful to host our latest event at
the Old Bath House Studios here in Northumberland and to bring together international
academics, a thriving community of creative artists and some of our recent
graduate start-ups.
“The
energy this diverse group was able to offer on the day is already proving
hugely beneficial to our ongoing work to have a positive impact on local
businesses. New ideas and the confidence to create and innovate are crucial to
future business performance.”
Northumbria graduate start-ups involved in running the event included Robert Lundgren,
from Lundgren Tours, Sam Clegg,
founder of enterprise support company HighflyVentures, and Freddie Gibbons, Innovator in Residence at the Northern
Design Centre in Gateshead and co-founder and director of Newcastle-based nuhj, a new innovation consultancy
Dr Pearce added: “The day was
organised brilliantly by the young entrepreneurs, who included a visit to Woodhorn to see
the Pitmen Painters and also to Newbiggin Maritime Centre which provides
exhibition space for local artists. Andy Hull from Art ‘n’ EvryFink and his
colleague Helen Grierson, both from The Old Bath House Studios, ran an inspirational
session demonstrating that anyone can be creative and giving everyone a go. It
had us all involved and collaborating, building confidence rapidly in a way
that illustrates perfectly the aims of GETM3. We’ll be including these
techniques in the free toolkit for employers we’re launching next year.”
