The University of Edinburgh is looking to develop training for businesses to support them in using, analysing and visualising data.

Better use of data can lead to improved products and services, better understanding of customers, and increased revenues. To that end, we are organising a series of free events between academics and businesses where we aim to:

• Demonstrate the value and potential of data analytics for businesses through successful examples;
• Evaluate the data skills needs of businesses with the intention of delivering a suite of free training activities for attendees during 2018.

To view further information and a draft programme for the event and to register to attend please visit Eventbrite at the link below: https://tinyurl.com/ych6ffnf

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the project or event in more detail prior to registering, please let us know and a member of AQMEN will contact you to discuss in more detail.

This event has limited places so please register by 22nd December if you wish to attend.

You have been invited to attend the event in Edinburgh on 18th January 2018, based on your location. However, if you are interested in attending but are unavailable on this date, this event will be repeated in two alternative locations:

• London – 16th January 2018
• Manchester – 30th January 2018

If you would be interested in attending one of these dates instead, please let us know and we can provide registration details.

We hope to welcome you to the meeting.

Is your business ready for GDPR in May 2018? Spend some time with the OneStopIT team to learn about how GDPR will affect your business.

We have four speakers from the worlds of IT, Marketing, Legal and HR who will share their knowledge with you. GDPR affects all areas of your business so come along and learn how a joined-up approach is needed to safeguard your company.

As an IT company we are aware that Cyber security and GDPR is not just an IT issue. It will affect all areas of your business which is why we have teamed up with our friends at:

Wright Johnston & McKenzie LLP
GDPR comes into force on 25 May, 2018 and one of its primary aims is to give more control back to individuals over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.

39Steps
Do you know how GDPR will affect your Marketing Department? If your business uses email marketing, sends direct mail or makes sales calls, the layw is changing what you can and can’t do.
Some things you might do today will no longer be allowed.
It’s tempting to think “I’ll deal with it in May”.
But there’s some easy things you should do right now, which mean you won’t run into trouble later.

HR Dept
Don’t panic! It’s not too late to get ready, as long as you start now.
Your HR department will be crucial to preparing your business to comply with the new GDPR in regard to data held on employees, contractors, volunteers and job applicants.

Cyber Essentials & GDPR Expert

The Government-backed Cyber Essentials accreditation provides a comprehensive set of guidelines that, when followed, provide the best outcome to reducing the risk to any business.

GDPR isn’t just for big businesses – a gym that offers a members’ loyalty scheme or a one-person chiropractor that asks patients to complete a wellbeing form will have to ensure that personal data is stored in line with the new regulations and not breach them.

Registration with Tea, Coffee & nibbles will start from 5pm with the first presentation starting at 5.30pm. We expect the event to wrap up for 7.30pm – just in time to head home for dinner.

Find out more and book your place here.

An invitation from Schools’ Educational Trust;

The Scottish Government’s education reforms and the introduction of new approaches.

Despite the Scottish Government’s proposals for education reform, as outlined in the Education Governance: Next Steps – Empowering Our Teachers, Parents and Communities to Deliver Excellence and Equity for Our Children, there remains considerable concerns that these do not go far enough, nor address some of the key issues, which continue to be raised by teachers, parents, communities and businesses.

So, what are the main concerns and limitations with the proposed reforms? What additional contribution can be made to the education system through greater autonomy and innovation? What are the lessons to be learnt observing from opening low-cost independent schools elsewhere? Is there an alternative more cost-effective way of delivering better outcomes in Scottish school education?

These are all issues that the new Schools’ Educational Trust (SET) is aiming to address, which will be covered by our speakers and through a Q/A panel debate on the day. We have pleasure in inviting you to join us for our launch event in Edinburgh this autumn where you will be able to hear more about SET, our approach and objectives.

Chairing the launch event will be Lord Digby Jones, who will also share his views with the audience through a keynote address. Our speaker line-up includes:

Frank Lennon OBE, Scottish Educationalist and former head teacher, and

Professor James Tooley, Professor of Education Policy, Newcastle University, and founder of low-cost independent schools in England and developing nations.

There will be an opportunity to put questions to Lord Digby Jones, Frank Lennon and Professor James Tooley, along with Director of SET, Bill Nicol, in a Q/A panel session rounding-off the morning. The event will conclude with a networking buffet lunch.

This launch is a ‘by invitation-only event’ and, while further details will be shared with you in the coming weeks, we wanted to ensure you had the advance diary date now and could register your attendance, as places are limited. In the meantime, you can read more about SET on our website: www.set.scot.

Details
Chair and Keynote Speaker, Lord Digby Jones
Wednesday 8 November 2017, 10.00 to 13.30
Radisson Blu Edinburgh, The Royal Mile, 80 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TH

Please RSVP in the first instance to: Bill Nicol, Director – Schools’ Educational Trust, contact@set.scot

Gender quotas across public life continue to fuel debate in the UK, but what happened when the Norwegian Government required boards at publicly listed companies to appoint a minimum of 40% women?

Fifteen years on Thorhild Widvey, then cabinet minister for Oil and Energy, joins us to reflect on the legacy of this policy, and asks how we can extend participation of women into areas of leadership across private companies and senior positions in organisations.

The event will be followed by a networking drinks reception.

About the speaker:

Widvey is currently Chair of the Board at Statkraft, a leading hydropower company in the world and the largest renewable power generator in Europe. In 2013 she was appointed Minister of Culture for the Norwegian Government; she had previously served as Minster of Petroleum and Energy (2004 – 2005), State Secretary for Foreign Affairs (2003 – 2005), State Secretary for Fisheries (2002 – 2003). Widvey has served on more than 50 boards of companies, in private and public sectors, including Hitec Vision AS (2006 to 2015); ENI Norway AS (2007 to 2015), Aker Drilling ASA (2006 to 2005), Oslo Havn KF (2012 to 2015), Aker Philadelphia Shipyard AS (2011 to 2015) and Sjømannskirken (Norwegian Church Abroad) (2006 to 2015).

Event details:

Venue: University of Edinburgh Business School
Date: Wednesday 11 October, 2017
Time: 18:00 – 19:00, followed by a networking drinks reception
Cost: FREE
Contact: 0131 651 5326 or events@business-school.ed.ac.uk

Reserve your place here: https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/event/beyond-business-thorhild-widvey

Charities and businesses across Scotland are joining forces in a first-of-its-kind event on “civic leadership”.

The one-day event brings together The Open University, TSB Bank and the Edinburgh Cyrenians as well as the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce in a bid to unite the skills and common drive of both third sector organisations and businesses looking to shape the future.

The event, held on 10 October at the Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor Hotel, will see 50 select delegates combine their skills and experience to drive forward a positive social agenda in Scotland that aims to help the economy and wellbeing of Scots.

The Edinburgh Cyrenians are one of the partners in this innovative project and work with the homeless and vulnerable to help transform their lives.

“Businesses in Scotland are not separate from the communities they serve.” said Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive Officer.

“Their staff and customers are part of those communities. Business people often find roles as leaders in all sorts of organisations but especially in youth and social care roles. The advantages are many. Not only does the organisation, and its members, benefit from the service provided but there is also benefit for the volunteer in terms of skills developed and contacts made.” he explained.

Another partner in the event, TSB Bank, have recently made a bid to return to their founding principles and demonstrate what learnings can be gleaned from the ten years since the economic crisis of 2007.

“TSB Bank was founded on the principles of Reverend Henry Duncan, who wanted to address the economic needs of his parishioners as well as their spiritual ones. He used his professional position to offer support to his community and clearly enjoyed himself in the process.” said Business Historian, Professor Charles Munn OBE FCIBS.

Director of The Open University in Scotland, Susan Stewart said she was “delighted to be a lead partner in such an exciting event that will help make Scotland a stronger society. This fits in with our ethos of making use of The Open University’s academic expertise for public good.”

‘Reimagining civic society. A new paradigm for Scotland’ is a free event that will be held on Tuesday 10 October from 12.15pm to 5.00pm at the Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor Hotel. Tickets are limited but may be booked via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reimagining-civic-society-a-new-paradigm-for-scotland-tickets-37447288849

Business Briefing-01 (2)A business briefing from Arts & Business Scotland, in association with The HR Dept.

So often people are great technically but are the wrong fit in terms of attitude and behaviours, so how do we recruit and develop the right people (and not the wrong people)? By using competences, in a simple and consistent way.

This session will cover:
• The benefits of Competency based recruitment and performance management
• Why it is so important and how to do it effectively and simply
• How to develop competences for roles and how to use them in recruitment
• How competences can be used effectively in performance management

Followed by optional free advice surgeries with the speaker Ian Pilbeam, from The HR Dept.

This briefing is suited for organisations of all sizes, in the arts, cultural and heritage sector, as well as the business sector. The session will be ideally suited for those leading organisations, managing teams or those in office management and human resources positions.

Details:

09.00 – 10.30
Arts & Business Scotland, 1st Floor, Rosebery House, 9 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5EZ
Book here http://bit.ly/2fxi1Yr
Free for Arts & Business Scotland Members
£25+VAT for non-members

Public guest speaker event on 17 October at 6.30pm, at the University of Edinburgh Business School

The Business School’s Entrepreneurship Club invites you to find out about how entrepreneurs can most effectively promote themselves on a limited budget.

This event is free and open to all. Michelle Brown of Michelle Brown PR makes a welcome return to the Eclub to draw upon her 20+ years of experience in the PR industry to give insights into how entrepreneurs can make the most of PR.

In her presentation, Michelle will cover the following points including, how to create a PR story and stand out from the crowd, how the media works and how to maximise exposure across all media platforms, on a limited budget. She will also illustrate her talk with case studies and will answer questions from the floor.

Michelle will be joined by Ali Wyllie, Founder of Run the Sights who will provide examples of a good PR story.

To register for this, and any other free event at the Business school please visit https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/about/events

Big Challenges need Big Ideas, therefore this year bioConclave are bringing new exciting projects, case studies, technologies and Innovations which are creating impact in the field of Genomics, Big Data and Connected Care.

bioConclave 2017 will explore how these ideas are driving R&D and the diagnostics and treatment of diseases today, and in the future. The audience will hear views from industry leaders, experience technologies in the exhibition demonstrations, meet and network with leading academics, investors and industry innovators. The website is at bioconclave.com, which outlines the Speakers and Agenda.

6th Sept: Main event in London, hosted by law firm Pennington Manches LLP, 125 Wood St, London, EC2V 7AW
7th Sept: One-day Indian delegation visit to Birmingham, hosted by BioHub Birmingham at the University of Birmingham

Speakers include:
• Suresh Narayan, COO, ABLE
• Dr Prabhu Mishra, CEO, StemGenn Therapeutics
• Dr Villoo Patel, Founder and CMD, Avesthagen
• Hitesh Thakrar, Partner, Syncona Investment Management
• Dr James Wilkie, CEO, Alta Innovations, Birmingham Science Park
• Professor S.S. Vasan, Senior Business Development Manager, Public Health England
• Rajlakshmi Borthakur, CEO, TerraBlue XT
• Pratik Dattani, Director, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)

The delegation from India will be led by the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE) in Karnataka, including by Narayan Suresh, the COO of ABLE, and Prabhu Mishra, CEO of StemGenn Therapeutics.

Registrations are done through the website bioconclave.com.

Organisers would like to extend an offer of £99+VAT tickets to up to 10 members of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce. To get the discount, email at spatel@economicpolicygroup.com quoting “Edinburgh”. Beyond the first 10 tickets, the remaining can be at a 20% discount, so £399+VAT instead of £499+VAT (offer is not applicable to law firms, consultants or solution providers).

Do you want to know how to develop a successful brand for your business?

The most valuable property your business might have is ‘Intellectual Property’ (IP). We live in global economy that is largely intangible and centres on ideas. However, ideas on their own have little value.

The successful businesses that make money are those that can turn their ideas into products and services, creating powerful IP in the process.

If you think IP doesn’t mean anything, then think about why half the value of Coca Cola is attributed to its IP. The fortunes generated by Facebook, Lego, Cadbury and Amazon are largely driven by their IP.

Many SMEs spend hours trying to develop their businesses without spending any time at all considering what is involved in creating valuable IP, and securing a good sale.

Bear in mind that raising investments or selling your company will bring into question this crucial topic. Investors and purchasers will have a very different view from what you see as they will be valuing your business based around the IP it holds.

Therefore, ignoring IP puts your revenues and business assets at risk, irrespective of the possible impact on its value.

This event will help you to better understand what is involved to secure your IP so as to maximise the potential of your business.

Why should you attend?

By attending this event, you will understand:
• What you can and cannot protect – the limits of intellectual property.
• Why trade marks matter whether or not you are aiming to create a brand.
• The 20% of actions you can take that give you 80% of the IP protection you need.
• The learning points from real case studies and implications of Brexit.
• 15% discount on Tidman Legal fixed fees when quoting “ECC 21 June”.

Who should attend?

This workshop is aimed at the owners and leaders of SMEs and start-up businesses. If you have aspirations for your business you likely have legal issues you need to know more about.

Who is presenting?

The workshop is presented by Oliver Tidman who is a regular contributor to leading national and international publications on intellectual property law. Oliver is the founder of Tidman Legal and has an extensive background in identifying, protecting, commercialising and enforcing IP. Oliver has advised hundreds of start-ups and SMEs on protecting and exploiting their valuable IP.

Tidman Legal is a leading boutique law firm specialising in intellectual property and business law for entrepreneurs, inventors, start-ups and SMEs. We help you to add value through taking care of your IP.

OK, it sounds good. How much?

This one-hour event is completely free and includes refreshments. The event is held on June 21, from 18:30 – 19:30 at Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue, 16 Saint Mary’s Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SU.

To book your place, click on the green ‘Register button on the Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/secure-your-business-secure-your-intellectual-property-tickets-33456379933 and click on the green ‘Register’ button.

Bookings are open for upcoming training events with Arts & Business Scotland, Introduction to Fundraising (Tuesday 13 June in Edinburgh) and A General Tax Guide for Arts and Heritage Organisations (Wednesday 21 June in Glasgow and Friday 23 June in Perth).

Introduction to Fundraising

Tuesday 13 June 2017 | Arts & Business Scotland, Edinburgh

Registration: 9:15am | Event: 9:30am-4.30pm

This popular one day course is aimed at individuals in Arts and Culture organisations who are new to or starting to fundraise. The day provides an overview of the current funding landscape in Scotland and creating an effective case for support.

Full details, address and booking here: http://www.aandbscotland.org.uk/events/2017/06/13/introduction-to-fundraising-edinburgh/

A General Tax Guide for Arts and Heritage Organisations

Arts & Business Scotland are pleased to be running this new event twice, with one in Glasgow and one in Perth.

Wednesday 21 June 2017 | Scott Moncrieff office, Glasgow and Friday 23 June 2017 | Perth Concert Hall, Perth

Registration: 8.30am | Event: 9am-12.30pm followed by lunch and general discussion

Speakers: Kirsty Murray (Tax Director) and Scott Craig (VAT Partner), Scott Moncrieff This new half-day seminar is a must for all financial or budget holding staff and anyone who wants to know how tax affects (and can benefit) arts and heritage organisations and individuals. This session will highlight available tax savings and cover corporate tax, VAT, gift aid, basic rules, common issues and opportunities.

Full details, address and booking:
Glasgow: http://www.aandbscotland.org.uk/events/2017/06/21/a-general-tax-guide-for-arts-and-heritage-glasgow/
Perth: http://www.aandbscotland.org.uk/events/2017/06/23/a-general-tax-guide-for-arts-and-heritage-organisations-perth/