Edinburgh Napier University has unveiled the appointment of two new Entrepreneurs in Residence, Dr Jamie Graves and Robert Goodfellow.

Graves and Goodfellow will spend 20 per cent of their time over a 12-month period with the university, sharing their experiences and helping to mentor, inspire and support students and academics with entrepreneurial goals and ideas.

The new appointments were made through the Royal Society-funded programme, which is aimed at helping British academic institutions turn world-leading research into commercial impact.

With one place, the University of Dundee is the only other institution in Scotland represented on the newly published list of 16 entrepreneurs awarded a place on the scheme for 2021.

Nick Fannin, Head of Enterprise at Napier’s Bright Red Triangle commented: “We are really excited to be working with Jamie and Robert as Entrepreneurs in Residence this year.

“Their knowledge and experience will not only energise and inspire entrepreneurial activity across the university but also help our spin-outs and start-ups to take their businesses to the next level.”

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Dr Jamie Graves, who started his career as a research fellow in Edinburgh Napier’s School of Computing and went on to found and develop award-winning cybersecurity start-up, ZoneFox, will bring his experiences of developing intellectual property to commercial impact to the School of Computing.

Commenting on his appointment, Graves said: “The purpose of this EIR project is to aid Edinburgh Napier in its ambitions to replicate existing spin-out and commercialisation success in its Centre of Cyber Systems & Cryptography. The work will promote and emulate this success across the School of Computing.

“The project will aim to build a sustainable pipeline of entrepreneurs across all academic cohorts via a series of awareness and training events in order to increase commercial activity.”

Graves added: “Edinburgh Napier was the launch pad for me and my future successes, so to be coming back as an Entrepreneur in Residence is really exciting and a great honour.

“I’m looking forward to being able to bring back some of the lessons I learned during my journey but also learning more during this new experience.”

Robert Goodfellow, previously Head of Enterprise & Business Development at Heriot-Watt University, will be working closely with the School of Applied Sciences to pass on his knowledge and help with entrepreneurial development.

Goodfellow said: “The Edinburgh Napier Applied Sciences Commercialisation and Entrepreneurism Training project (NASCENT) will identify and commercialise health and wellbeing intellectual property rights, develop new staff and student entrepreneurs and build a lasting ‘commercial culture’ across the three campuses.”

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Commenting on the appointments, Fiona Mason, Head of Business Engagement and IP Commercialisation, said: “We are thrilled by the Royal Society’s support for the appointment of these two Entrepreneur in Residence posts. They will bring invaluable insight and experience to the university to the benefit of our staff and students.

“We are honoured to work alongside two such stellar and seasoned entrepreneurs and look forward to develop with them a successful programme for the future.”