{"id":1585,"date":"2025-05-19T09:57:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T08:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/?p=1585"},"modified":"2025-05-30T09:58:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T08:58:53","slug":"kent-and-medway-business-summit-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/2025\/05\/19\/kent-and-medway-business-summit-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent and Medway Business Summit 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Kent hosted its 9th<\/sup>\u00a0Kent and Medway Business Summit, welcoming businesses and policymakers to our Canterbury campus for a day of discussion around the big issues shaping Kent and Medway\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

The event, delivered in partnership with\u00a0Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce<\/a>\u00a0and headline sponsored by\u00a0Leverets<\/a>, highlighted the breadth of what the University has to offer the business community and its important role in connecting local communities to drive positive change in the region.<\/p>\n

The future of Kent, the local skills landscape and AI in business were just some of the topics covered during a series of panel discussions and workshops led by business leaders and Kent academic experts. New for this year was an expanded itinerary which took delegates beyond the boundaries of Sibson, with \u2018netwalking\u2019 across the campus to the\u00a0Community Oasis Garden<\/a>, Kent\u2019s cutting-edge\u00a0ballistics research facility<\/a>, and along the Crab and Winkle path, where\u00a0Kent Wildlife Trust<\/a>\u00a0shared their vision for the Wilder Blean project. Delegates were then able to get hands-on with AI technology developed by researchers within\u00a0the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries<\/a>\u00a0before sitting down to a fireside chat between the University\u2019s Chancellor,\u00a0YolanDa Brown OBE DL<\/a>, and Susie Warran-Smith CBE DL in the\u00a0Gulbenkian Theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Summit is just one of the many ways that Kent is extending access to its facilities, talents and resources as part of its civic mission to serve Kent and Medway\u2019s communities. Its range of business-centric\u00a0professional development courses<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0apprenticeships<\/a>,\u00a0research and innovation support<\/a>, and\u00a0Careers and Employability Service<\/a>\u00a0are supporting business growth in the region. Many spaces on campus are available for business hire and through its flagship initiatives,\u00a0Right to Food<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0University of Sanctuary<\/a>, Kent is creating opportunities for organisations to give back to their communities.<\/p>\n

Acting Vice Chancellor, Georgina Randsley de Moura, said: \u2018It was a pleasure and privilege to welcome so many local stakeholders at our Summit. The thought-provoking and lively discussions \u2013 within the talks and throughout the networking opportunities \u2013 and the enthusiasm for collaboration and growth was really inspiring. We have a key part to play in helping our region prosper \u2013 and events like this are a great way for us to facilitate and support this. Next year\u2019s event will be part of our 60th Anniversary, and we hope it will be even better. In\u00a0 the meantime, we will continue to work with our partners on all other opportunities to come together as a region.\u2019<\/p>\n

Tudor Price, Chief Executive of the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, said: \u2018This is such an important event for business leaders at a time of great economic change and uncertainty. Working with the University to help businesses adapt and plan for the future is of great importance and we were delighted to be able to help deliver what ended up being a really informative day.\u2019<\/p>\n

Rupert Butler, Head of Legal Practice at Leverets, said: \u2018It was great to see so many people sharing their experiences, insights and forecasts. The mood was upbeat and the outlook optimistic \u2013 we are grateful to have had the opportunity to support the Summit.\u2019<\/p>\n

The University extends its thanks to everyone that supported the event alongside its partners and headline sponsors, with special thanks to session sponsors\u00a0Walker Construction<\/a>,\u00a0Dodgems and Floss<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0AKITA<\/a>, and the\u00a0Institute of Directors<\/a>, the\u00a0Federation of Small Businesses<\/a>,\u00a0Medway Council<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kent County Council.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kent and Medway Business Summit is set to return in 2026 when the University looks forward to welcoming everyone back. Look out \u00a0for updates here or\u00a0sign up to receive Kent\u2019s business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Kent hosted its 9th\u00a0Kent and Medway Business Summit, welcoming businesses and policymakers to our Canterbury campus for a day of discussion around the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74795,"featured_media":1586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[282613,13897],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1587,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585\/revisions\/1587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}