Bournemouth-based mortgage technology provider Twenty7tec has partnered with AUB Academy, the corporate learning arm of Arts University Bournemouth, sending employees to its inaugural Creative Away Day on the university’s campus in October. The session applied creative disciplines to workload planning, cross-departmental communication and team motivation, giving a financial technology team a different route to familiar workplace problems.

Led by Corinna Budnarowska, fashion course leader at AUB, the day combined the Double Diamond design framework with practical workshops in printmaking and creative writing, encouraging employees to approach familiar challenges from different perspectives alongside technical and analytical skills. The programme paired creative disciplines with practical business challenges.

Twenty7tec, headquartered in Bournemouth and founded in 2014, supplies mortgage and wealth technology to advisers and has raised $38.2 million (approximately €33.2 million) in funding. Following acquisitions in 2022 and 2023 it had a combined team of more than 120 people across London, Bournemouth and Asia Pacific.

Arts University Bournemouth, which gained university title in 2012 and had 3,740 students in 2024/25, is positioning itself as the UK’s leading entrepreneurial arts university. AUB Academy’s Creative Away Days form part of an expanding corporate learning programme.

The structural driver is AUB’s Strategy 2030+, which commits the university to supporting local enterprise and expanding its bespoke corporate offer through AUB Academy.

Ellisha-Jade, social media, PR and events manager at Twenty7tec, said the day let teams step away from usual routines and “inject some creativity into the way we think, and work together.”

Gianluca Di Marco, talent development manager at Twenty7tec, said the sessions gave “great insights that would have been otherwise missed in the routine of our office.”

Rob Hill, head of AUB Academy, said the academy is “increasingly leaning into the business sector,” using hands-on artistic techniques to help regional businesses think differently and build stronger internal connections.

For the sector, the partnership confirms that universities are packaging creative facilitation as corporate development for non-creative industries, with away days as a route into regional business.

Source: theintermediary.co.uk / pitchbook.com / fintechfutures.com / en.wikipedia.org / aub.ac.uk