Our international work encompasses both consultancy and training. On the consultancy side, the pandemic forced the cancellation of a visit to Cambridge by 20 Thai CEOs. However, rethinking it led us to develop the effort into a much broader programme of activity designed to support and scale up the Bangkok entrepreneurial ecosystem, delivered remotely. We worked with our Thai partners on a white paper; developed an Innovation Club, using the successful Cambridge Network model; then created a methodology and framework for an entrepreneurial baseline study and dashboard. Frequent online meetings and correspondence over the past 12 months have led to a deeper working relationship than a five-day visit could ever have achieved. We are now developing a further programme of activity with our partners. 

On the training side, we moved online, as many others have done. We are exploring alternative platforms and learning a lot about engagement and attention spans in virtual environments. We successfully delivered a postdoc entrepreneurial bootcamp in Shangdong, China; we ran a series of webinars around software and health data for a network of Norwegian Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs); and we delivered a training programme for technology transfer professionals in Chile and Argentina. 

The pause in our regular delivery also provided a great opportunity to review and reflect on past provision, and understand the real needs of some of the TTOs we were being approached by—especially those in developing countries. We were perfectly positioned therefore to take advantage of the exciting new online learning platform launched by the University, Cambridge Advance Online. Having postponed and then cancelled our highly successful Open Programme—a five-day residential course run annually in Cambridge—we started to develop a programme blending international best practice models of research commercialisation with insight into Cambridge Enterprise’s experience and expertise. We were delighted to see this launch in September 2021.