Leaders in innovation fellowships

LIF

Our work with the Royal Academy of Engineering on their Leaders in Innovation Fellowships programmes.

About LIF

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s (RAE) Leaders in Innovation Fellowships (LIF) programme supports talented entrepreneurs from around the globe to turn their engineering innovations into impactful, sustainable businesses. We at Oxentia have been delivering this work in collaboration with the RAE since 2014, providing training and mentoring in entrepreneurship and innovation leadership to cohorts of LIF Fellows from Newton Fund countries.

Some 2025 highlights

Empowering innovation with global industry leaders

At Oxentia, we contribute to the design and delivery of programmes for early-stage entrepreneurs and academic innovators from Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, Colombia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, and India.

The focus has been on helping LIF fellows develop new business strategies and improve their business plans and investment pitch presentations. The LIF Fellows also received interactive training on leadership, business plans, intellectual property, marketing, licensing, negotiation, investment pitching, and presentation skills. They worked through practical technology and knowledge transfer case studies that discussed real market challenges and opportunities, learning how to apply these skills to their own ventures.

Working together with the Academy, we also provided mentoring support over a six to nine-month period. In addition to mentoring the LIF fellows and reviewing their business plans, Mentors provided high-value input, such as primary and secondary research, financial modelling, and marketing support, enabled through our ‘back-office’ consultant team.

After the residential training, LIF fellows returned to their respective countries with new insights and contacts, and many have been able to make material step changes in the progress of their businesses or innovation plans over the period of remote mentoring support. In the LIF2 to LIF4 programmes, Oxentia also managed a vibrant in-country events programme to deepen the links for the LIF fellows and their Mentors, and connect them with sources of support within their local ecosystem.

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