About University of Ulster Innovative Services

Potential Opportunities

Potential opportunities for the social economy sector working with the University include:

  • Networking: Knowledge Club events run by Ulster which comprise industry sector events as well as specific social economy events. Past themes include, “Balancing the Social and the Economic” and “The Challenges of Good Governance for Social Enterprises”.  
  • Student Placements: are available from faculties across the University’s 4 campuses. Social Enterprises can benefit from the skills of highly motivated students, who are willing to make a worthwhile contribution to employing organisations. Students are interested in a range of differing opportunities in a wide variety of organisations in industry including the social economy sector. Read about Willowbank's experiences of University of Ulster placements
  • Training: The University's Business Institute delivers a suite of accredited training, bringing new skills and expertise to businesses including social enterprises.  Click here for link to Business Institute
  • Research: Science Shop offers specific opportunities to access assistance with research projects.
  • Consultancy:Ulster offers a network of academics with breadth and depth in expertise and will work with you to match experts to your business needs.
  • KTP: Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme: financial support for businesses to employ a high caliber graduate on an innovative project of strategic business value. The graduate is supervised by the business and a relevant Ulster academic. Together with Ulster, you define and agree a project to enable you to draw on the University's expertise and apply it to your business. Criteria include the need to have 8+ employees and 2 years audited accounts.  Projects will only be supported if they can provide economic value. Click here to find out about the Colin Glen Trust.
  • Innovation Support: Invest NI Innovation vouchers, if you are an sme, sole trader or partnership you can apply to Invest NI to access an innovation voucher worth £4k to purchase University expertise to provide an innovative solution to a problem within your business. If you are based in the Republic of Ireland (small, < 50 registered companies only), you can apply to Enterprise Ireland for a voucher worth euro 5k. Read further details in our innovation vouchers case studies.  For further details on Invest NI's voucher scheme check out the following website www.innovationvouchers.com