Spotlight on: The Pembroke Corporate Partnership Programme
One of Pembroke's unique features is its Corporate Partnership Programme (PCPP). Established in 1996, the PCPP works to connect external organisations with the intellectual and academic network in Cambridge.
Pembroke currently has eight full Corporate Partners: AIG, BT, Cheyney, Grosvenor, Kylin Prime Group, Open Society Foundations, Roche, and Warwick International Hotels; and two Industrial Affiliate Partners: Willis Towers Watson and Toshiba Research Europe.
In addition, the PCPP organises a number of annual events, including the BT-Pembroke Lecture, the Parmee Prize and the William Pitt Seminar. This year's William Pitt Seminar will take place on Friday 16th October will focus on Equality of Opportunity.
Ahead of its 25th anniversary in 2021, PCPP has launched a @CorpPembroke Twitter account and a LinkedIn page. Corporate Partnership Manager Dr Kate Parsley said: ‘We’re excited to launch our social media presence on Twitter and LinkedIn today. The Pembroke College Corporate Partnership Programme works with our Partners to deliver a variety of events and projects that benefit the College, the organisation and wider society. We will use social media to share our news and activities and encourage you to follow us to keep in touch.'
BT has been a member of the PCPP since 2003 and this longstanding and mutually beneficial partnership is celebrated annually at the BT-Pembroke Lecture. We’re looking forward to announcing the speaker for this year’s lecture soon, but in the meantime we would like to share the 2019 lecture provided by John Beswick, Chief Finance Officer for BT Technology, entitled ‘From purposeful innovation to delivering commercial advantage’.
The Master of Pembroke College, Lord Smith, in his welcome to John Beswick emphasised and celebrated the College’s deeply valued relationship with BT. In his introduction, Beswick compared the common purposes of the two organisations and BT’s aim to use the power of communications to make a better world.
Purposeful innovation is a hybridisation of science, engineering and purpose. Beswick spoke about both the importance of companies marrying technology with commerce in an enterprise organisation to drive value. He emphasised the need for companies to employ people who have the skills to provide insights to produce technology that people will use. Beswick pointed to mathematician George Gabriel Stokes, engineer Tommy Flowers and typist Bette Nesmith Graham as people who were able to grasp practical applications for scientific breakthroughs.
Practically, this means employing hybrids, or ‘purple’ people who combine multiple skill sets, rather than just one speciality. Beswick gave examples such as a psychologist with data science skills or a marketing manager with experience of software engineering. He also used his own career as an example, that of an accountant with an engineering background.
With a skills half-life of approximately five years, lifelong learning is now more critical than ever. Beswick suggested that companies need to actively invest in their employees’ professional development over time to increase the number of purple people they employ.
About the BT-Pembroke Lecture
The BT-Pembroke Lecture is an annual Pembroke Corporate Partnership Programme event held in November. BT has been a member of the Partnership Programme since 2003. The current BT William Pitt Fellow is Professor Tim Whitley, MD Research & Innovation and MD of BT’s Technology Campus Adastral Park.
To watch videos of past lectures, please visit the Pembroke Corporate Partnership Programme’s website: /college/corporate-partnership/corporate-events/bt-pembroke-lectures
For more information about the Pembroke Corporate Partnership Programme or the BT-Pembroke Lecture, please contact Dr Kate Parsley, Corporate Partnership Programme Manager.