Pause carousel
Play carousel
Field trip offers first-year students real-world insights into modern business practices
First-year students from Abertay University took their learning beyond the classroom with a field trip to Dundee’s Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP).
The visit, organised as part of a Nature of Management module, gave students a unique opportunity to see business innovation and sustainability in action in the local area.
During a tour of the huge industrial site, led by MSIP’s Innovations Manager Grant Walker, students learned about its transformation from a Michelin tyre factory into a dynamic innovation hub that is home to a range of start-ups and businesses.
Visiting the site’s Innovation Labs and its Innovation Hub, the students discovered how MSIP supports companies focused on sustainable mobility and decarbonisation, gaining valuable insights into the role of innovation in driving change.
Students were also given the opportunity to meet staff at the MSIP-based 4SB - a start-up that provides a cutting-edge battery-swapping solution that can ‘re-fuel’ electric vehicles within two-minutes.
Angus Brodie, a lecturer in Business Management at the Dundee Business School, said MSIP was the ideal place for students to explore modern business practices and the future of industry.
The field trip to MSIP was really beneficial for the students. Bringing them out of the classroom to a facility of this scale allowed them to make that connection between the theory and knowledge they’ve been learning in class and the reality of life in the business world. Now that the students have seen MSIP, they’ve got it in their imagination – and I think it can really expand their ambition and what they think is possible. At Abertay, we place a strong emphasis on building connections with industry, and this is a particular focus for us at the Dundee Business School. Visiting MSIP and meeting some of their tenants has further strengthened those ties.
Natalie McKnight, Marketing and Events Manager at MSIP, said:
It was a pleasure to welcome students from Abertay University to MSIP. We had the opportunity to show off our Innovation Hub, our industrial units, and our Innovation Labs – where we have a wide range of different businesses who come from varying backgrounds, all working towards sustainability challenges. The visit highlighted how MSIP operates as a business and how we support our tenants in ensuring they have the facilities and resources they need to grow and scale as a business – and to continue working with us at our innovation parc.
