Laura Bennett

Laura is Head of Entrepreneurship at the Royal Academy of Engineering. She has oversight of the Academy’s programmes to support UK deep tech spinouts (Enterprise Fellowships), scaleups (Shott Scale Up Accelerator), and startups (Regional Talent Engines). She also leads on the Enterprise Hub’s ongoing support for programme alumni including investor engagement, and contributes to our thought leadership in deep tech via the annual publication of our ‘Spotlight on Spinouts’ and ‘State of UK Deep Tech’ reports. She is part of the Advisory Board for the APPG for Entrepreneurship, and sits on the External Advisory Board for the Centre for Machine Intelligence at the University of Sheffield.

Laura has 12+ years’ experience of designing and delivering incubation and acceleration programmes for entrepreneurs. Prior to joining RAEng, Laura co-led on an EU-funded ecosystem development project in South Yorkshire which involved co-designing and embedding accelerator programmes in the region. She has advised senior EU policymakers on entrepreneurial ecosystem development and entrepreneurship policy via a short-term internship at the OECD in 2019 and as a consultant engaged through two EU-funded URBACT networks in 2017-2020. In 2015, she was part of the founding team of Tech North (now Tech Nation) where she designed and ran Founders’ Network, a bespoke business support and peer-to-peer learning programme for early-stage entrepreneurs in the North of England. In a previous role at entrepreneurship consultancy Founder Centric, she was part of the team that designed and ran the Startup MBA and the Startup Tribe for Escape the City.

Laura holds a PhD in entrepreneurial ecosystem development from the University of Sheffield and recently published a book based on her thesis: Developing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Place, Processes, People (Edward Elgar, 2026).