What’s your favourite place?Our memories are connected to wherewe grewup, met new friends, or found our newhome. Places are not just physical. They are associated with relationships and connections, giving an additional dimension that can be personal and individual. The definition and meaning of place is rooted in the study of geography, even though the complexity of the term suggests it is really an interdisciplinary term. In understanding how businesses operate, we always consider the importance of the context. Who hasn’t come across Lancashire Blue, or Kendal Mint Cake? Some businesses are strongly rooted in their geography, projecting the place in their branding. Universities are also perceived as place-makers, as anchor institutions contributing to regional development with a great potential to support local authorities in creating positive change, and contributing to job creation, research and skills development. Lancaster University’s commitment to its place is implemented though our civic charter. We renewed that commitment in 2019 when we joined the Civic University Network. We also recognise that our students are the stakeholders of our place, and making this salient to them enhances their sense of belonging and curiosity about what kind of place Lancaster is. Place has become a political concept and we have seen a surge of place-based policies and place development committees seekingmore localised paths to improve the effectiveness and social impact of local economic activities. Recently, there has been an increasing focus on place nationally through local industrial strategies, regional Growth Deals, the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda, and the creation of Combined Authorities and metropolitan mayors. We have been enquiring into the meaning of place and exploring the role of local entrepreneurs and their role in communities, focusing not just on wealth creation but on developing a buoyant enterprise culture, encouraging collaboration and being sensitive to the alignment of their business with local needs, as well as environmental impacts. We could see innovative approaches to place-based entrepreneurship, and new research related to the Levelling Up policy and post-Brexit strategies. This has encouraged us to consider how we shape our own education proposition, incorporating such debate in the heart of our entrepreneurship education. IN A GOOD PLACE Our project Good Place Innovators, funded by Enterprise Educators UK, was born of our passion to contribute to the positive transformation of our local communities by listening, asking questions and investing time into learning about the challenges of our city and region. The aim is to enrich entrepreneurship education with consideration for our local context and inspire our students as future entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders to develop a sense of stewardship for where we do business. We firstly aimed to understand the challenges of our place through consulting a wide variety of stakeholders. This fascinating part of the project is captured in our series of 15 podcast episodes where we welcome researchers, policy-makers, entrepreneurs and business leaders to debate what place means to them. Stuart MacLennan, one of our entrepreneurs, summarised the sentiment of the project perfectly: “If you don’t invest in place and you don’t build that trust, you are just that mad guy that’s turned up with a daft idea that nobody takes seriously.” What we really aspire to for our students is the ability to come up with viable ideas, but most importantly to ensure these ideas will be implemented in a responsible and considerate manner. The project enhances the consideration for our places in our business strategies, aspiring to achieve good growth for business and for the local community. Lancaster researchers provided fascinating insights into the role and value of entrepreneurs in co-creating better solutions for renewable energy in Chile; we learnt about Brazilian favela 44 |
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI5NzM=