Key people from the stakeholder universities' careers and employer liaison units joined us yesterday to hear direct from the horse's mouth what its like running a company at Daresbury - it's a buzz!
We called the event 'Bridging the Skills Gap' - the objective being to help careers advisers in our stakeholder university gain a clear understanding of the nature of business going on at Daresbury and the unique skills and human resource requirements of the companies here.
In total 8 companies gave short, punchy presentations, and the effect was quite amazing - ranging from companies developing i-phone apps, through to software for pilots' helmets in fighter jet aircraft, harvesting stem cells from childrens' deciduous teeth (after they've fallen out naturally) and technology that could allow you to race in real time against Jensen Button in a real F1 Grand Prix.
Obviously the skills requirements of these companies are quite unique, but there is a common thread - successful employees need to be problem solvers and communicators. Key Skills have never been more important - but couple them with technical skills such as dot net programming and you have a heady mix.
Matching the skills needs of growing high tech firms is a tricky one but we at Daresbury are committed to working with our partner universities in ensuring that the business community and the graduate community are at least talking to each other - and from there who knows what could happen - with the talent and opportunity we have on our own doorstep.
If you want to see presentations from the event click here http://tinyurl.com/y8aztq4
