Sixteen Cambridge University groups involved in the support of enterprise and innovation are working together to improve support for would-be entrepreneurs.

The new initiative - known as the Cambridge University Enterprise Network (CUEN) - aims to increase the flow of information between the growing number of organisations supporting enterprise and innovation in the university. CUEN recently held a meeting at which 30 representatives from 16 organisations came together to learn about each other's activities and spot opportunities for collaboration.

The groups involved range from those organising student business plan competitions or providing direct support for inventors trying to bring a product idea to market - to others offering courses in entrepreneurship or providing advice to high-tech start up companies.

CUEN plans to:

• organise regular update events
• provide a website to share resources and plan joint projects
• publicise information about the wide range of enterprise and innovation activities via a jointly developed wiki 

The launch of CUEN has been coordinated by the Technology Enterprise Group (TEG) - part of the Institute for Manufacturing's Centre for Technology Management (CTM). TEG organised the recent event in partnership with the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning and Cambridge Enterprise. Initial support has been provided by St John's Innovation Centre and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

CTM's Tim Minshall said "There is now a diverse and increasing range of entrepreneurship support activities across the University and throughout the region.  Helping forge links between these activities will enable groups to spot opportunities for collaboration, avoid duplication of effort and communicate a clear message to actual and would-be entrepreneurs about these activities."

A full list of the groups involved can be found at CUEN's website at: Enterprise and Innovation Network