Dr Laura Ih Bennett Email & Phone Number

I am proud to head up the fantastic Enterprise Hub team at the Royal Academy of Engineering. The Enterprise Hub provides training, support, mentorship, and equity-free funding to engineers and academics who want to commercialise and scale their innovations.I hold a PhD from Sheffield University Management School. I submitted my thesis in February 2023, entitled "Understanding the mechanisms of entrepreneurial ecosystems: an examination of place, perspectives, people, and processes." I have been working to support entrepreneurs and in entrepreneurial ecosystem development roles for the past decade. My skills and experience in these areas have led to opportunities to share learnings and knowledge with practitioners and policymakers across the UK and Europe. Through my work as Ad-Hoc Expert for the European knowledge-sharing network URBACT, I have led workshops for European policymakers in entrepreneurial ecosystem stimulation and development. I am regularly invited to speak at events; most recently at conferences hosted by the Centre for Entrepreneurs and the UK Science Park Association. I sat on the LEP board for Sheffield City Region from 2017-2020, and contributed to decision-making on economic development and business growth proposals.I have designed and run bespoke support programmes for tech entrepreneurs, including the Startup MBA for Founder Centric and the Startup Tribe for Escape the City. I designed and led Founders’ Network at Tech North, a peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing programme for early-stage tech founders in the North of England. In 2016, I mentored Palestinian startup founders in Gaza. In 2017, I authored a report on the Creative Digital sector in Sheffield. I have been active in supporting startups in Sheffield for many years through my involvement in community-led initiatives such as Startup Weekend Sheffield, and was contracted by the Urban Flows Observatory University of Sheffield to organise two hackathons. I hold a First Class degree in French & Hispanic Studies from the University of Birmingham, and a MSc in Globalisation & Latin American Development from the University of London. I'm fluent in Spanish (C2) and French (C2-/C1+). In my early career, I worked for non-profits in London and Peru. I led an international and multilingual team as Director of Operations for Awamaki, an NGO based in the Peruvian Andes which supports indigenous women weavers and knitters.I'm a proud of my Sheffield roots and have a global perspective. I'm on Twitter: @LauraIHBennett.

Listed skills include International Development, Ngos, Strategy, Spanish, and 27 others.