Meet our July 2024 Wows...

This month we're celebrating Warwick Wow winners who have gone above and beyond to deliver results with economic, regional, & innovation impact for the wider University.

Want to say well done? You can congratulate our winning colleagues in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Start-up business support

The University of Warwick Science Park

Ian McFarlane-Toms and Dirk Shaefer, along with the Minerva team, have supported hundreds of companies across the region.

Dirk leads the Ignite Incubator & Ignite Alumni Network which has supported over 750 start-ups since its inception and has re-engaged with 100 of these since June 2023.

Meanwhile, Ian leads the Business Ready team, supporting high-growth & innovation-led companies for the last eight years. This has led to the creation of jobs & economic impact in Coventry & Warwickshire.

The team's nominator told us:

“They have been recognised by the Financial Times & Statista as being one of the top 5% Start-up Hubs in Europe.”

Stuart commented as he presented the award:

"Ian, Dirk and the rest of the team have been helping to establish and grow companies for years - creating jobs and developing our region. This is so important for us as a University and for our local businesses, and we're so grateful for the work they do."

Wow Transcript

Stuart: So here we are today in the beautiful sunshine, ready to do another one of our Wow awards. The fantastic thing about our Wonders and Wows is it gives us a real opportunity to learn about the total things that are being done in the University. And here today we're in a Science Park to meet the brilliant people who do business ready, business support, Ian, Dirk, many others, who have got years of really helping companies establish, grow, create jobs, and develop in our region. So let's go and award our Wow.

Hello. Hello. Very well done. Thank you. Very well done. Hello. Hello. Are you having a good meeting? Yeah. Very good. Do you know why you're here? No.

You are here because we have our fantastic Wows and Wonders and you wonderful people have been nominated and won a Wow award for the amazing business support work that you do. And we are as a University, we're so grateful to that work that you do. It's so important for us as a University. It's obviously really important for the companies as well.

But, I think we should have a small cheer. Come on. Yes. You all, you're looking sort of frighteningly stunned, as if to say 'My goodness me. What does this mean? More work?' It doesn't mean more work!

We have the most valuable thing of all. The star. The star which says Warwick Wows and Wonders. And you are going to have this around your neck, aren't you? Oh Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all so Much. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Thank you so much.

Thank you all. Well done.

Share your support for the winners in the comments below!

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