Innovative industry collaboration enables UWTSD Computing Students to showcase entrepreneurial skills

UWTSD computing students working on Enterprise and Innovation group projects have benefited from industry collaboration which has enabled them to develop their entrepreneurial skills.

The students were tasked with creating innovative solutions to today’s problems using up-to-date and emerging technologies and managed to complete their work, despite the challenges of lockdown.

James Williams, Senior Lecturer at the University’s Wales Institute of Science & Art said: "Engagement with industry has been invaluable to the cohort of students in gaining up-to-date industry relevant knowledge and development practices, and in assisting the students to discover their own inspiring intrinsic interests. Industry partners have been keen to show their support in the form of module sponsorships, masterclass talks, work experience and employment opportunities. Some examples below.” 

• https://uwtsdcomputing.blog/2019/11/13/social-enterprise-business-technology-innovation/
• https://uwtsdcomputing.blog/2019/11/13/future-tech-solutions-dvlas-bothack-botathon/
• https://uwtsdcomputing.blog/2019/11/21/evolution-of-it-cloud-computing/
• https://uwtsdcomputing.blog/2020/03/04/visit-to-bt-test-centre/
• https://uwtsdcomputing.blog/2020/03/12/enterprise-masterclass-by-paul-harwood/

Ben Room, the CEO of BRDSports.co.uk mentored the students. He said: “It was a fantastic experience working with the computing students from UWTSD, they were professional, courteous and respectful of my time. The type of skills they could bring was innovative and quite refreshing. Having new, modern, and young thoughts and views focused on my company was invigorating. At the end of the project the team have produced a usable platform for my company and we would very much like to carry on with this work in the future, we will definitely be happy to sign up for further collaboration on next year’s projects.”

Example projects included:

• A Virtual Mixed Reality (MR) responsive e-commerce website promoting BRD Sports Ltd. (Image above)
• A Medical Information band that has a chip stored within it, to allow paramedics or health care professionals to easily access patient information should they not know the identity of the person or their medical history.
• A fitness app which enables participants to complete challenges and compete against friends. 
• Bringing retail shopping into the 21st Century - Transforming paper into digital receipts. From in store, App and online eCommerce websites and integrating them into one 'bank' account. 
• An app that teaches users to cook in a fun and unique way, to create dishes and post photos on social media, gaining more points through engagement.
• CloudMe.Inc: The creation of a portable Cloud Computing storage device that enables data transmission from all your devices to the portable storage unit and to your cloud storage. (Image below)

A special congratulations was also made to this year’s winning students of the best Enterprise & Innovation submissions including Gemma Dunlop, selected by Welsh Government Youth Entrepreneurship Manager, Ann Swift and Nyakamha Bright, selected by James Lewis Head of Tech Start-up programme at the Alacrity Foundation.

Ann Swift said: “I am delighted to see that students were still able to digitally participate in the Innovation Competition via the submission of their reports and video presentation to demonstrate the entrepreneurial skills and mind-set that they had developed within the course module.  Whilst I missed meeting the students and hearing from the group presentations it was still my pleasure to receive a selection of individual video presentations to judge.  It was fantastic to see how the students had pursued their roles within the team with enthusiasm, taking full ownership of their responsibilities to make the projects successful and deliver innovative solutions to meet the needs of the client briefs.  The student presentations were delivered professionally, with confidence and clarity which is not always easy in a technical environment.  I hope the students enjoyed the module and can take forward their newly developed skills to future projects and careers, with a number of them being inspired to start their own business in the future.”

BSc Web Development student Mark Huntly said: “The experience has been a great one, creating a team and producing the project has been fantastic. It has been an interesting and engaging module and James has been a great mentor through it all as well, providing good support and advice. I have really enjoyed the seminars that were provided by industry experts.

“I love the practicality of the course itself and it has been great for a mature student like me to broaden my knowledge. I have thoroughly enjoyed the learning process so far and the research side of it.”

Gemma Dunlop said: The project involved working as part of a team of six developing an innovative website for the company BRD Sports. I put myself forward as team leader which helped me learn new skills such as leadership, listening to other people’s ideas, communication skills, reliability, problem-solving and decision making.

“It was a great experience working collaboratively with the other students in my team. A strong friendship was built between us as we worked effectively towards our common goal. We got to know each other and learned from each other. The project enabled the team to show off their skills and showcase what they could do as web developers. The project helped me gain valuable experience of hands-on coding and it has added an interesting real project to my portfolio which will help it stand out.

“My course has allowed me to gain a broad knowledge of coding which is essential for the real world of work. It has given me the skills, confidence, and experience to hopefully lead to a great career field in web development.

“I chose a Web Development course at UWTSD as it involves learning practical computing skills which I feel will be more statistically likely to lead to guaranteed employment. With so much competition in the jobs market right now, I wanted to choose a career path which is expanding and not contracting.”

Creativity and innovation are at the heart of University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) mission to enhance graduate employability and the number of graduate start-ups. Our aim is to utilise our collective skills, knowledge, and technology to enable the University and its graduates to offer solutions to the most urgent societal challenges – in Wales and further afield. Our vision has a strong commitment to building a sustainable society driven by innovation and entrepreneurship.

Innovative learning and industry collaboration are a key focus at the University, creating more opportunities for students to enhance their prospects after graduation. This unique approach of bringing students, academics and businesses together enables them to explore ideas and create opportunities for the development of new sustainable businesses, products, and services.

James Williams added: "Through this module, students are encouraged to discover and apply their intrinsic passion and strengths and to work with relevant industry and community links to create innovative prototypes and solutions to problems that are important and relevant to them and society. 

“It enables inter-disciplinary collaboration and brings students together from 8 different Computing & Electronics HND/Degree programmes. It creates a bridge not only between the internal academic programmes but also with external industry and community organisations enabling students to enhance their technical and employability skills through up-to-date real-world challenges.

"Students have received seed funding to develop their prototypes, created Tech Start-Up Companies and are employed with local companies and Organisations and are positively contributing to the economic-regeneration and sustainability of the region.”

All this would not be possible without the support of our industry & community partners. A special thanks to all those listed above and to James Lewis from the Alacrity Foundation, Paul Harwood from Techhub Swansea and Ann Swift from the Welsh Government for their invaluable support.” 

Find out more here : https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/computing/.

Further Information

Rebecca Davies

Swyddog Gweithredol Cysylltiadau â’r Wasg a’r Cyfryngau

Executive Press and Media Relations Officer

Cyfathrebu Corfforaethol a Chysylltiadau Cyhoeddus

Corporate Communications and PR

Tel: 01792 483695

Mobile: 07384 467071

Email: Rebecca.Davies@uwtsd.ac.uk