Mapping an Ecosystem The Enterprising Oxford Journey Leah Thompson University of Oxford October 2019

History of Enterprising Oxford Out of this disorganisation, the need for a “portal” was recognised. . . • Created in 2014 in Maths, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) • EPSRC-IAA funded (initially) • Original purpose was to help DPhil students and early career researchers develop their enterprise skills and be more entrepreneurial in their career decisions Entrepreneurship @ Oxford has always been: • Bottom up – “Let a thousand flowers bloom” • Fragmented, siloed and fluid

Enterprising Oxford @enterprisingox @enterprisingox eship.ox.ac.uk We are a University of Oxford initiative to help promote, support and highlight entrepreneurial activities, resources and opportunities across Oxfordshire. We’re here to help students, staff and alumni connect with the people, places and opportunities they need to increase skills, develop ideas, or scale a business.

What is Journey Mapping? A journey map is a representation of every experience or interaction your audience has or could have with you The Journey is actually the last part of the engagement puzzle: Audience: who are you talking to? Content: what are you providing? Personalisation: all about the customer Journey: the logical flow Why do we need to map? • Impatience and “intelligence” of audience • Complex customer and audience pathways • Multiple inputs, (almost) infinite outcomes

Who is this for? Know your audience (or who you want your audience to be) • Persona groups – including users, visitors, “sharers”, influencers • We interviewed Staff, Graduate researchers, Post-Docs, Student entrepreneurs, Oxford startups, faculty and supporters • Make assumptions about those groups and test • Iterate!

What should be mapped? Think about each persona and what they need: • What geographical area do we need to cover? • What internal and external resources and opportunities are there? • What are the different stages and sectors needed to support the audience? Programmes | People | Places | Pounds

EO Example: Key Inputs • Calendar – Google Calendar • Desk Research – Google “Oxford entrepreneurship/ startup/ enterprise” • Colleagues • Social media

EO Example: Key Outputs • Website • Social media • Newsletter • Maps and guides • “Concierge”

Tools for Mapping • Word/Excel (or equivalent) • Google calendar • Eventbrite, Meetup, Facebook etc • Key organisations and colleagues • Draw.io (flowchart) • Mind42 • Piktochart

Key Learnings • Keep it up to date - or is not worth much • Get it into the hands of users by any and all means possible – they will help inform you • Design new ways to display the journeys for an ever-changing audience • A hub is very useful – but does not need to be “the” hub Share with colleagues and learn from other experiences