We are pleased to announce a new EBN member on board - the University of the Arts London (UAL), Europe’s largest specialist art and Design University, and the world’s sixth best University for Art and Design in the QS World University Rankings® 2017.

Established in 2004, UAL brings together six arts, design, fashion and communication colleges (Camberwell College of Arts; Central Saint Martins; Chelsea College of Arts; London College of Communication; London College of Fashion; and Wimbledon College of Arts) with more than 3,000 academic, research and technical staff and about 19,000 students from more than 100 countries.

The university specialises entirely in design, arts, fashion, architecture, communication and media. UAL is actively engaged in research and innovation as well as artistic, cultural and education projects. In the latest REF (UK Research Excellence Framework) 83% of UAL research was classified as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, and its overall quality profile placed it in the top 25 of UK Universities.

Why has the University of the Arts London (UAL) decided to join EBN?

As EBN is active in creative and digital industries via members working in the sector (eg. Media Deals, Laval Virtual,  CEEI Bahia de Cadiz, Città della Scienza, DUBLIN BIC, Toulon Var Technologies, and many others), and using  Creative SIG as the platform to exchange the best practices in supporting entrepreneurs working in creative industries, UAL sees joining the network as a great way to network at EU and international level and build cross-sector design and or creativity driven partnerships.

At the later stage, UAL plans to submit application to become a EU|BIC and comply with the EU|BIC Quality System, and in that way get certified and benchmark its business support services to other EU|BICs supporting startups.

We are proud to have a global leader of art and design education on board as a member, wishing UAL even more success within our network.