The Summer 2025 Data Innovation Bootcamp will run from the Monday 2nd June to Friday 6th June.

Days will be scheduled within 09:30 to 17:00 (except for Friday, which will have a 16:30 finish). 

The Summer Bootcamp will accommodate students from the SAgE and HaSS Faculties, alongside industry partners.

Each business will propose one problem for our students to interrogate. This will be a live problem within the organisation that is actively being investigated, supported by a relevant data set.

Students will work together in groups to try and solve the business challenge they are allocated. They will present their findings to the business partners on the afternoon of Friday 6th June.

Applications closes Sunday 18th May, 11:59pm

The Bootcamp provides an immersive, interactive, and fast-paced programme giving Newcastle University students a golden opportunity to work on live business problems alongside industry partners, giving you a glimpse of how industry approaches problem solving and better preparing you for success in your future workplace. 

The Bootcamp is a collaborative journey, based on group working, over a period of one week. It is tailored so that each day builds on the last, drawing together a narrative that spans from you meeting an organisation with real-world needs for the first time, through to communicating back to them a prospective solution to their needs. 

This experiential learning opportunity will equip you to learn innovation methods and tools that explore how to create products and services that customers want. 

The Bootcamp will offer guidance from subject matter experts and will facilitate direct collaboration with industry leaders. 

You will increase your employability prospects by participating in this industry opportunity.

Some of the skills you will develop include:

• Building you business knowledge and understanding
• Working alongside actual businesses and using their data to solve real-world problems
• Learning from leading practitioners in data science
• Thinking critically and working collaboratively
• Developing your data analysis and visualisation skills
• Building your network of contacts in the world of business and data science
• Recognising how to make informed business decisions 
• Earning the Data Innovation Bootcamp Open Badge to enhance your employability and career opportunities.

Day One

You will meet your peer-group, be introduced to a real-world organisation, and dive into the challenges they face. You will also be introduced to (or brush up your existing) basic data handling skills in the Python programming language. 

Day Two

You will perform a deep dive into the organisation’s data, gaining understanding of their operational needs, before selecting an appropriate customer to focus on. 

Day Three

With the customer in mind, you will work on developing a value proposition that will fit the customer’s needs and add value to the organisation. 

Day Four

You will develop potential business models around your value proposition and develop your solution ideas into a minimum viable product. 

Day Five

You will work together with your group to make an ‘elevator pitch’ and a communication pitch back to your organisation and receive feedback on your proposed solution(s). 

The outline below gives an overview of the structure of the bootcamp: 

During the week you will be introduced to concepts and approaches that could help you improve your data literacy and assist you in thinking innovatively in the future. These include: 

• Data manipulation and visualisation using Python, pandas, matplotlib and seaborn. 

• Leveraging Generative AI, such as ChatGPT to assist in coding and analysis. 

• Understanding your customer through Customer Journey Mapping. 

• Achieving a ‘product-market’ fit using the Value Proposition Canvas. 

• Ensuring desirability, feasibility, and achievability with Business Model Canvas. 

• Developing a ‘fail-fast’ mentality with a Minimum Viable Product. 

• Learning the art of persuasion through an Elevator Pitch and presentation.  

The figure below outlines the progressive steps you will undertake on your journey through the bootcamp: 

We expect the week to be challenging, but, if you feel up to the task, we would love to welcome you on our Data Innovation Bootcamp.