How Universities Build Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Lessons from the University of Bristol
The discussion will offer practical insights into the relationships, structures and conditions that help ecosystems evolve over time, and the role universities can play in fostering collaboration, connectivity and entrepreneurial activity across their regions.
With experience spanning university collaboration, incubation, corporate strategy and place-based innovation, Marty Reid brings a practical view of how ecosystems are built across institutional boundaries. The discussion will examine how universities can align researchers, founders, investors, industry and civic partners; where coordination often breaks down; and what leaders can do to turn assets and relationships into sustained capability. Participants will gain an inside perspective on Bristol’s evolving approach, including the role of the new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, while testing which lessons can transfer to other regions and which depend on local context.