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Uni business expert shares insights at international conference

Written by Paula Devine | 27 Sep 2012

Innovative use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and entrepreneurship are a “matter of survival” for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who want to succeed online.

That’s the opinion of Professor Yanqing Duan who presented a keynote speech at the International Conference on E-Business Technology and Strategy, in Tianjin, China.

Professor Duan, Director of the Business and Information Systems Research Centre (BISC) at the University of Bedfordshire Business School, was invited to speak about her research into why some SMEs are successful in E-Business, whilst others are left behind.

She believes the key is to raise awareness on developing an entrepreneurial culture and to improve ICT skills – especially with today’s worldwide financial and economic turbulence.

“Development and deployment of emerging ICTs are providing new opportunities as well as challenges for e-business innovation and growth,” she added.

BISC's extensive research has analysed factors affecting e-business success from several theoretical and practical perspectives.

And it has been involved in many projects worth some £1.5m over the past 10 years, mainly funded from the European Commission, supporting SMEs’ e-business adoption and innovation through knowledge transfer and ICT competence development.

At the conference Professor Duan used case studies to demonstrate the role of ICT innovation adoption and entrepreneurship in the e-business success of SMEs.

Dr Sonal Minocha, Dean at the University of Bedfordshire Business School said: "It is our ambition to build an international practice driven school engaging with global businesses, through research and consultancy that is beneficial for organisations is a core strand of our strategy.

"Yanqing's research evidences the highly applied and relevant nature of our research activity and the impact it is generating."

For more information about BISC’s research supporting SMEs in e-business and innovation, please email Professor Duan at yanqing.duan@beds.ac.uk

For more information on the Business School, please email Dr Minocha at Sonal.minocha@beds.ac.uk

Topics: Bedfordshire, Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, business, Business Development, economy, offices, students, education, innovation, Luton, News, Uncategorized, University of Bedfordshire

Paula Devine

Written by Paula Devine

Paula is Head of Membership and Global Services at Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce.

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