Got a live business challenge that could benefit from fresh perspectives? From short project sprints to ongoing live briefs, you can collaborate with us for unique, student-driven insights and solutions – all while nurturing future talent.
How it works
Discovery
It starts with a discovery call. We’ll get an overview of your business and discuss your specific challenge to ensure it suits our students and understand how we can best collaborate with you.
Our students could help you with anything from designing a marketing campaign to analysing data and proposing a new service or product.
The brief
We’ll provide a template for your business challenge and match you to the most appropriate course to ensure maximum impact for you and our students.
We may suggest adapting your brief to enable you to work with larger groups of students or across multiple subjects. The brief can be straightforward or complex.
The execution
Students can work on your challenge in one of two ways: through ongoing, in-depth live brief projects across several weeks, or a fast-paced, exciting hackathon or sprint in a single day.
We’ll help you choose the best collaboration type, based on your needs and desired time commitment. Read more below about how each opportunity works.
You'll first present your project brief to a cohort of students and answer any questions.
They’ll work in groups across several weeks on your challenge, taking on roles such as project lead, researcher, designer, analyst or presenter.
Throughout the project, students can liaise with you to clarify delivery expectations, present early ideas and receive feedback – and adjust their approach before final delivery.
This may involve a few hours of your time split over one or more sessions. We'll work with you to decide what’s best.
Single-day sprints and hackathons involve joining several other businesses for an energetic and packed day of students working on your project.
These events are typically 3-7 hours long, starting with a short introduction of the challenge from you. Students may ask questions and consult you throughout the day.
At the end of the event, students will present their work. You’ll get an opportunity to provide feedback and help them understand how their work aligns with industry best practice.
Through our Industry Exchange Programme, you can collaborate on project briefs with final-year and MSc students from our School of Computer Science and Engineering.
Projects can cover:
- artificial intelligence
- big data analytics
- cybersecurity and risk analysis
- data mining, exploration and visualisation
- games development
- mobile or web app development
Students typically create proof-of-concept prototypes to address your business challenges, offering valuable insights for your organisation.
The outcome
At the end of the project, students will present their work to you, ready for you to use, adapt or feed into future planning.
Outputs might include:
- design artefacts
- marketing or business strategies
- pitches and presentations
- prototypes, games or apps
- research findings or data insights
- written reports
We’ll ask you to provide detailed feedback and help students understand how their work aligns with industry expectations.
To see how other organisations have benefited, see the ‘What others say’ section below.
Get started
To book a discovery call or learn more, get in touch via our enquiry form or email [email protected].
Step inside Zone29
We offer dedicated space in the heart of London to host these collaborations, so you can make the most of the experience.
While working with students on your challenge, you’ll have access to:
- collaboration areas for briefings, workshops, mentoring and feedback sessions
- meeting rooms and pods to meet with your student team
- our on-site café for informal discussions or quiet working
How you'll benefit
By offering students a real-world business challenge, you can gain:
- fresh research insights, marketing plans, strategies and creative solutions
- leadership, communication and coaching skills for employees working with our students
- early access to potential graduate talent
- a low-risk way to test ideas before full-scale investment
- diverse, innovative thinking that challenges the status quo
- increased brand visibility with your logo and company showcased to students
- clear evidence of your commitment to social responsibility and diverse future talent
- academic expertise to match students with your brief and industry
How you'll inspire students
You’ll also boost the confidence and career prospects of students by offering them an opportunity to gain:
- hands-on experience with a real business client
- stronger collaboration skills through working with you and their peers
- experience pitching ideas and delivering real business value
- direct exposure to industry professionals and networking opportunities
- transferable skills like communication, teamwork, problem solving and creative thinking
- practise meeting industry deadlines, responding to feedback and adapting to changing requirements
What others say
The students were highly engaged and demonstrated a strong understanding of The Gym Kitchen, our customers and competitors. Each group had clearly researched the brief thoroughly and showed genuine interest in the brand.
Charlotte Blackwall, Business Operations, The Gym Kitchen
It’s a win-win situation for all parties. Employers get extra business support and students get practical real-life experience.
David Rana, Co-founder Metro Coffee
We've reviewed the students' insightful work, and we're already finding valuable takeaways that will inform our future product development and marketing strategies.
Shiyamali Paranirupasingam, Founder, L’Amour Pearls
Contact us
To discuss your options or learn more, email [email protected].