60 seconds with… Marek Hornak

From helping businesses access student talent to supporting innovation and skills development, Marek Hornak has spent his career building connections between universities and the wider economy. As Pro Vice-Chancellor for Commercial and Academic Partnerships at the University of Suffolk, he sees first-hand how collaboration can unlock growth. We caught up with Marek to discuss the skills of the future, the power of university-business partnerships, and the opportunities ahead for Suffolk.

How would you sum up your work and experience in a couple of sentences?

I’ve been working in Higher Education for almost 20 years at four different universities, always focusing on supporting business growth by better utilising and brokering the university’s expertise, student talent and skills. I have developed R&D collaborations, embedded students into innovation-led growth (collaborating with SMEs), managed a science park, developed a start-up incubator and run accelerator programmes among other examples. The focus has been local growth through the lens of the university.

What motivated you to join the Suffolk Business Board?

The University of Suffolk has a lot to offer to support Suffolk’s Economic Strategy. Suffolk is a great place for innovation, we are home to some leading companies such as BT, Halo, MSC, OCS and Muntons to name a few. We as a university want to play our role in supporting innovation, supporting companies with relevant skills provision and ensuring our graduates are work-ready. Suffolk Business Board helps me understand the latest business needs so I can use this as feedback for our university.

What skills do you think will be most important over the next decade?

In my view it will be digital skills and their application across different sectors, with data, AI and cyber security. We also must not forget the health-related skills, together with the management and leadership, project management and soft skills to work alongside the technical skills.

What role can universities play in helping businesses grow and innovate?

The role of universities is much broader than just developing student and graduate talent. It’s about how we make all capabilities, resources, expertise and talent available to support socio-economic growth. This is exactly why I set up the Business Solutions Centre at the University of Suffolk, to give companies access to our student talent and resources.

What excites you most about Suffolk’s future right now?

To me it’s the internationally leading developments like the Quantum Optics Lab at Adastral Park and partnership with BT, Space East, and also new investments in places like Gateway 14 with the new Innovation Gateway. We need to keep the momentum going and leverage the likes of the QOD lab.

How can we encourage more graduates to build their careers in Suffolk?

Student Impact Projects, which we started through the Business Solutions Centre, are a great example. Companies can partner with our students to get help tackling their challenges or opportunities, with students looking for or designing solutions. This enables companies to try out the skills and knowledge of students who are potentially their future workforce. Helping new businesses is another area where the university supports the local economy. Our start-up bootcamps support graduates to start a new business here in Suffolk.