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New centre to support disruptive business and industry transformation launched at Nottingham Business School

A new centre led by international experts is to promote innovation, empower business transformation and nurture future business leaders.

    Business women hand holding light bulb, concept of new ideas with innovation and creativity
    The Centre is aimed at future leaders and entrepreneurs interested in business transformation

    The Centre for Business and Industry Transformation (CBIT) has been launched by Nottingham Business School, part of Nottingham Trent University, to bring together industry transformation research, disruptive business practice, and personalised education.

    Aiming to foster future leaders, CBIT offers both full-time and part-time masters degree programmes, specifically designed for transformational entrepreneurs, family business successors and senior managers who are likely to become the next CEO.

    CBIT has also launched its Venture Builder for early-stage businesses. The programme aims to enhance the founder’s capability in business transformation practice. It takes a unique “sparring partner” approach to co-creating and co-executing transformational methods and innovative business model adoption.

    The CBIT research team has a proven track record in high-impact research that supports wider society to achieve better sustainability and accelerate towards Net Zero. Their key research covers fields such as digital economy; new business and economic models; technology-driven innovation; IoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence; and business transformation methods.

    Professor Xiao Ma
    Professor Xiao Ma

    The Centre will be led by Professor Xiao Ma, an internationally recognised thought leader and educator in entrepreneurship, business transformation, and digital economy, as well as a seasoned entrepreneur. He has led transformation projects for many businesses, including some Fortune 500 companies and PLCs.

    Professor Ma said: “Through the work of the Centre, we want to transform those industry “norms”, build disruptive businesses and maximise positive impact in society and the environment. We will do this by working with industry partners to co-identify, co-design and co-deliver high-impact, world-leading education and research, informed by challenges the industry partners are facing.”

    The Centre will hold an official launch event at Nottingham Business School on Thursday 10 November aimed at both emerging and established entrepreneurs and researchers interested in investigating how businesses become disruptive and transform the industry norm. Speakers include:

    Nikhil Chikhliwala, a recent graduate, who will share his experience of the CBIT previous Masters’ degree programme. Nikhil will discuss how this programme helped him to build his venture, and made him a Strategist at Bow&Arrow, the Venture builder arm of Accenture.

    Manish Pillay and Kris MacCrory, co-founders at Dock-y, (a CBIT Venture Builder cohort). Kris and Manish will share their experience of the CBIT venture building programme.

    Roger Maull, Professor of Management Systems at the University of Exeter Business School and Academic Director of the Initiative for the Digital Economy at Exeter (INDEX). Roger will share his experience of working with the CBIT team on industry transformation research and explain the benefits of being part of this research agenda.

    For further information and to book a place visit the NBS website.

    • Notes for editors

      Press enquiries please contact Helen Breese, Public Relations Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8751, or via email.

      About Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University

      Nottingham Business School (NBS) at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a leader in experiential learning and personalisation of business, management and economics education and research, combining academic excellence with positive impact on people, business and society.  NBS has an unrivalled level of engagement with business, public and voluntary organisations. With more than 8,000 students, NBS is also one of UK’s largest business schools.

      NBS is Quadruple+ Accredited by EQUIS, AACSB, EFMD BA for International Business, which are globally recognised hallmarks of excellence and quality for business education. NBS is also accredited by Small Business Charter, providing support and development for SMEs. The school is also a PRME Champion and held up as an exemplar and beacon by the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME).

      About Nottingham Trent University

      Nottingham Trent University (NTU) received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2021 for cultural heritage science research. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed the honour of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens.

      The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent.

      NTU was awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023 and ranked second best university in the UK in the Uni Compare Top 100 rankings (2021/2022). It was awarded Outstanding Support for Students 2020 (Times Higher Education Awards), University of the Year 2019 (Guardian University Awards, UK Social Mobility Awards), Modern University of the Year 2018 (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide) and University of the Year 2017 (Times Higher Education Awards).

      NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with nearly 39,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.

      Since 2000, NTU has invested £570 million in tools, technology, buildings and facilities.

      NTU is in the UK’s top 10 for number of applications and ranked first for accepted offers (2021 UCAS UG acceptance data). It is also among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge.

      NTU is ranked 4th most sustainable university in the world and 1st in the UK for sustainability-themed Education and Research in the 2021 UI Green Metric University World Rankings (out of more than 900 participating universities).

    Published on 1 November 2022
    • Category: Press office; Research; Nottingham Business School