Industry Engagement

Discover the many ways to work with our emerging talent, including group consultancy projects, individual research and placement opportunities. By engaging with our students, you will contribute to enhancing their student experience and allow them to access expertise beyond the Adam Smith Business School. 

Engagement with the third sector 

Our Entrepreneurial Ventures: Management and Growth (EVMG) course utilises our student expertise to deliver outcomes to our third-sector partners. The course involves engagement with 12 separate organisations, delivering a one-week consultancy ‘ideas spark’ sprint project and a longer six-week engagement activity, taking a deeper dive into an organisational issue.  

As part of the consultancy process, groups of students are mentored by industry professionals to ensure learning is maximised and outcomes for the client are appropriate. In 2023, clients included several charities as well as social enterprises across Scotland. As part of the Business School’s commitment to our third-sector partners, the three best student consultancy projects were taken forward to implementation. The School sponsored three internships for students to work with the chosen partners to implement their findings. 

The financial support via the EVMG course in providing paid internships to start-up and young third-sector organisations has proven valuable and has already served as a model of engagement for other undergraduate courses, with plans to replicate its success elsewhere.

“This process of consultation has been great. It's busy here but the time commitment needed from me has been small and the ideas and suggestions from students have been insightful and helpful” – Dave Hodson Tweedale Youth Action 

Supporting Fintech SMEs 

As part of our MSc Financial Technology programme, students can elect to undertake an ‘industry project’ as part of their dissertation. The industry project involves students engaging with organisations over six weeks to tackle an issue or idea for growth. At the end of the project students deliver an executive summary and a presentation. In 2020, the Business School sent out seven students to local Fintech businesses, and in 2021 that number grew to 18, and in 2022 this was 32 students. These students deliver knowledge, insights and new ideas to the Fintech ecosystem. 

“Working with the Adam Smith Business School has been a pleasure and we were impressed by the calibre of the students. The work has accelerated our progress towards providing timely and insightful data-dashboards to our client.” – Peter Keys (SOAR tech) 

“The students were highly motivated and engaged to structure and summarise a very complex topic.” – Kevin Cowan X10 Solutions 

Connect with our highly respected academics and build long term partnerships between our research and the issues that matter to broader society, through consultancy, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP’s), research, policy making and conferences.  

Our academics are among the most highly regarded in the fields of management, business, economics, accounting and finance, with many contributing to public discussions through articles, conferences and media commentary, and influencing contemporary thinking and policy. They also advise governments, regulatory bodies, businesses and organisations through collaboration and consultancy – bringing independent and intelligent perspectives to a wide range of business challenges.  

Consultancy 

We continuously develop consultancy and research-based links with industry and our academics engage with a wide range of businesses and organisations in this capacity. Among those drawing on our research and consultancy expertise are Scottish Government, Scottish Fiscal Commission, HM Treasury, International Monetary Fund, European Commission, and European Central Bank. 

Research 

Our academics have a proven track record for addressing the challenges faced by businesses and organisations from across the sectors. This is through collaborative research, advising and encouraging best practice, and providing access to leading research and knowledge. 

We are recognised worldwide for the depth and breadth of our academic research and the solutions they support are typically innovative, practical and highly effective in bringing about positive change. 

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) are part government-funded projects that bring together academic experts, graduates and businesses, with the aim of stimulating growth through research and knowledge sharing.  

We have an extensive portfolio of successful KTP projects and are keen to extend our collaborations with businesses. Key benefits of KTPs include: 

• access to fresh strategic insights 
• increased profit, knowledge and capability 
• greater efficiency and competitive edge 
• improved innovation, competitiveness and productivity 
• access to exclusive academic expertise. 

We offer an engaging experience at the Adam Smith Business School and harnesses the value of working together across disciplines, cultures, and countries to solve global problems and bring about positive change.