Marcus Simmons
Course Leader, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management MSc
Marcus is an experienced entrepreneur and educator with more than 20 years’ experience of starting, growing and advising businesses. After building and selling a multi-million-pound digital business, he moved into higher education and found a new passion – helping students develop the knowledge, confidence and practical skills to turn ideas into businesses.
Marcus began his career in the UK and US textile manufacturing industry before moving into management consultancy, working with organisations including Asda, Co-op Funeralcare, Kenwood Appliances and ING Bank, as well as a wide range of SMEs. In 2001 he co-founded a web design company, which led to the creation of iknow-uk, an accommodation finding and booking business, in 2003. The company grew to employ more than 50 people and became a multi-million-pound business, winning a number of national and regional awards, including BT’s Essence of the Entrepreneur in 2010.
After exiting the business in 2015, Marcus moved into higher education, teaching enterprise and entrepreneurship at undergraduate and MBA level. He also developed and led an MBA consultancy project with St Catherine’s Hospice, which won the Business/Industry Collaboration category at the 2019 Educate North Awards.
Marcus joined Cornwall Business School at Falmouth University in January 2022 and is Course Leader for the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management MSc. Since joining Falmouth, he has focused on developing practical, experiential approaches to entrepreneurship education, combining his experience as an entrepreneur with his academic work to help students move from ideas towards action.
He has worked closely with Falmouth’s Launchpad business support and incubation programmes, developing opportunities for students to gain practical experience of entrepreneurship through initiatives including internships, micro-internships, freelance and startup support, and work with early-stage businesses. In 2023, Marcus was part of the Falmouth team that received the national Enterprise Educators UK Entrepreneurship Catalyst Award, recognising exceptional entrepreneurship education and practice.
External Links
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Fellow HEA | Higher Education Academy |
| 1990 | MSc Ergonomics | Birmingham University |
| 1989 | BA(Hons) Industrial Design | Northumbria University |
Honors and awards
| Year | Description |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Won the National Enterprise Educators Award for Entrepreneurship Catylist for the work done by the Launchpad Business Incubator team together with the MSc Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management team from the start of 2022 to the summer of 2023. The award relates to creating freelance and internship opportunities for Falmouth students plus new business stat-ups. |
| 2019 | Set up and led MBA project at St Catherine’s Hospice which created a winning Business/Industry Collaboration at the Educate North Awards 2019. |
| 2010 | BT Essence of the Entrepreneur |
| 2009 | Growth Strategy of the Year, Northern Region, National Business Awards |
| 2008 | Best Use of Technology, North West Region, National Business Awards |
| 2007 | Best of Lancashire, North West Digital Industries Big Chip Awards |
| 2006 | Excellence in E-Business, Lancashire Business Awards (BIBAs) |
| 2005 | Best Commercial Website, North West Digital Industries Big Chip Awards |
| 2004 | Start Up Business of the Year, NW Society of Chartered Accountants |
Research Interests
Research interests and expertise
Marcus’s research and teaching interests centre on how universities can move beyond teaching entrepreneurship as a theoretical subject and instead create opportunities for students to learn through action, experimentation and engagement with real businesses. He is particularly interested in how experiential entrepreneurship education can help students develop the confidence and capabilities needed to pursue entrepreneurial careers, while also contributing to the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem.
There’s nothing Marcus likes more than discussing potential business ideas with students and helping them work out what to do next.
Marcus has published two book chapters examining these themes. His 2025 chapter, Cultivating Cornwall’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Nurturing Startups With Internships, co-authored with Vivienne Neale, examines how Launchpad and Cornwall Business School used internships to connect students with startup businesses. His 2026 chapter, Extreme Experiential Entrepreneurship Education: What If Students Must Start a Business?, co-authored with Sue Langford, examines the student experience of Falmouth's Launchpad Futures programme.
His most recent research evaluates the impact of extra-curricular freelance and startup coaching and micro-funding for creative higher education students. Examining the outcomes of Falmouth’s Enterprise Enabling Fund, the study demonstrates how combining accessible micro-grants with tailored, one-to-one mentorship fosters professional confidence, essential business literacy, and inclusive self-employment pathways across arts and media disciplines. The findings from this research were presented at the 2026 Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK) conference.
Marcus’s broader research interests include experiential entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial employment, student and graduate entrepreneurship, and the role universities can play in developing regional entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Research topics
- Entrepreneurship education
- Experiential learning
- Freelance education
Research Outputs
Publications and research outputs
Externally funded research grants information
| Collaborators | Currency | Funder | HESA Category | Project title | Value | Year ending | Year starting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GBP | Innovate UK | Knowledge Transfer Project | £115,567 | 2020 | 2018 |
Teaching
Areas of teaching
- Business start-up
- Design Thinking
- Innovation
- Leadership and Team Development
- Lean Manufacturing
- Marketing
- Operations Management
Policy engagement within Cornwall
Engagement with organisations which contribute to the development of educational, cultural or socio-economic policies in Cornwall
Founding member of the Freelance Education Alliance (FEA) - a carefully curated, action-led community tackling key challenges in freelance education.
Members connect, collaborate and vote on priority challenges and each quarter, Action Groups take these priorities forward, developing practical resources, research, campaigns, policy recommendations and partnerships.
According to studies by Capital on Tap, Falmouth has frequently topped UK university rankings for the highest percentage of freelance and self-employed graduates, producing roughly 1% of all self-employed graduates in the UK.
Professional Engagement
Engagement with professional associations and societies
- EEUK - Intellectual Property: "Using case IP studies: from Colin the Caterpillar to my own business copyright conundrums", April 2021
- Advance HE Employability Symposium 2021: "Increasing student problem-solving, self-confidence and enjoyment through entrepreneurial activity", April 2021
- CABS conference on Learning, Teaching and Student Experience. PechaKucha - "Experiential learning – better results, more fun and more valued", May 2019.
- LSBE Learning & Teaching Forum - Presentation - "Experiential Learning", July 2019
- UCLan CELT Conference - Inspiring Student Success, Interactive presentation - July 2019
- ISBE, Practitioner Paper, "Turning practice into theory - the lived experience of an award-winning entrepreneur turned educator", Nov 2019.
- Speaker at the Network of Tourism Academic – Presentation and debate leader - "What Makes Good Consultancy?", Dec 2019
- Founding member of the Freelance Education Alliance (FEA) - a carefully curated, action-led community tackling key challenges in freelance education formed by the Freelancer Club. Members connect, collaborate and vote on priority challenges and each quarter, Action Groups take these priorities forward, developing practical resources, research, campaigns, policy recommendations and partnerships. According to studies by Capital on Tap, Falmouth has frequently topped UK university rankings for the highest percentage of freelance and self-employed graduates, producing roughly 1% of all self-employed graduates in the UK.
