setsquared business acceleration centre ukbi established
TRANSCRIPT
Create, collaborate & innovate
Adding value to Business Incubation – from incubator to “incubator of incubators”
Create, collaborate & innovate
Context – prior to relocation
• SETsquared – active since 2002
– Operates across Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton, Surrey – and most recently Basingstoke
– Bristol Centre on UoB precinct
• (in white, affluent Clifton)
– Good reputation and relationship with city
– BUT
• Not visible & no physical engagement space
• UoB wanted space for academic and teaching activity
• We knew we could do more……
Create, collaborate & innovate
Alignment of interests
• City Council needed to kick-start EZ growth
• SETsquared needed a stronger raison d’etre
• The city region needed a focal point
• Engine Shed:
– Co-locating aligned but disparate assets / entities
– Creating a shop-window for West of England
– Collaboration between UoB and Bristol City Council
Create, collaborate & innovate
Engine Shed – The Building• Brunel's original Terminus for the Great Western Railway
– Stopover for New York
• Opened in 1841
• Worlds oldest surviving purpose built Terminus
• Grade 1 listed status
• Originally:
– Fuelling, watering, emptying of engines
– GWR Drawing Office
– Station Master’s House
– Great Western Railway Boardroom
Create, collaborate & innovate
Engine Shed – an incubator of incubators• Two business incubators
– Bristol SETsquared Centre - high-tech startups; Gov funded; UoB owned
– WebStart Bristol - web startups; equity-funded; entrepreneur owned
• Policy & regional marketing
– Invest in Bristol + Bath (“IBB”)
– West of England LEP
• Development
– Research project – “Bristol & Bath x Design” (UWE, UoB, BSU)
– Training Provider – IT, software, Apprenticeships
– Node on new Gigabit Bristol experimental network (www.bristolisopen.com)
• Workspace:
– Business Lounge (membership only)
• UoB, Bath, BSU, UWE, IoD, RSA, BusinessWest, Bristol Media, Corporates (Just Eat, Saint-Gobain)
– DigiCity (co-working: rent a desk by the day/week/month)
– Meeting rooms and function space
• Public innovation showcase – “Platform 14”
Highly connected and iconic transport hub – 4mins form platform (will be 30s)
Create, collaborate & innovate
Engine Shed – The Building
Create, collaborate & innovate
Engine Shed - overview• Business plan – written January 2013
• Phase 1 – opened December 2013 (26,000 sq.ft)– £1.7m from Council + University + CityDeal
– SETsquared installed August 2013
• Phase 2 – opening end 2016? (adding 50,000 sq. ft)– £4m awarded from LEP (Jan’15):
• Better proportions of what we’ve got
• Grow-on space for SETsquared, WebStart and others
• Teaching space
• More incubators – social enterprise, clean web….
• Technology test bed
Create, collaborate & innovate
Business Model
• SRF (Subsidiary of UoB) – 15yr lease from BCC• Income
– Major tenant income – SETsquared, IBB, LEP, WebStart– Meeting rooms, Business Lounge, DigiCity, Arrivals Lounge, Café
• Expenses– Finance charge to BCC (effectively the rent - £1.34psf)– Operating costs– Some staff (non-SETsquared)
• Operating Surplus– 47% - BCC– 23% - SRF retained– 30% - Enterprise projects
Create, collaborate & innovate
A virtuous circle of benefit
UK PLC
City-region
PartnersComponents
Clients
Engine Shed
Create, collaborate & innovate
Benefits to city regionWest of England (“Bristol & Bath”)
• Increased cohesion– UAs
– HE & FE
• Focal point– Public, schools, intelligence
– Business networks
• An “open front door”
• Networks
Create, collaborate & innovate
Benefits to Partners
• Universities– Neutral territory
• Meetings with business, LEPs, each other
• LEP– Higher visibility
– Good showcase for visiting ministers & mandarins
– Closer to companies – challenging the tension….
• Invest Bristol & Bath– Rapid access to market intelligence
– Compelling case for inward investors
Create, collaborate & innovate
Benefits to Incubators
• SETsquared and other co-located incubators– Higher profile – self preservation – Collaboration with each other– Captive network / footfall of useful people– MUCH easier access to good people
• They come to us
– More sponsorship– Stronger pipeline– Ability to influence– Lower marketing cost
• Virtually £zero
Create, collaborate & innovate
Benefits to Incubator Clients
• Higher profile– Journalist-in-residence
• Access to influencers – LEP, IBB, Mayor, politicians
• Rapid access to funders – eg. LEP grant, InnovateUK
• More investment showcase events
• More corporate engagement
• Access to more….– Knowledge, universities, talent
Create, collaborate & innovate
Lessons Learned
• Bringing partners together– Politics & politics– Playing them off
• Rapid progress– Don’t wait for permission - understand what ‘can’t not happen’– Investing up front / “giving forward”
• Creating more activity in one place – as a crucible –REALLY works for everyone, but don’t proscribe or predict
• The JOURNEY added value to the environment and thus benefitted the incubation clients.
Create, collaborate & innovate
Talk / support / apply / consult:
+44 117 903 1100
+44 7973 361179
Engine Shed, Station Approach, Temple Meads, Bristol, BS1 6QH, UK
Twitter: @engineshed_BB
www.engine-shed.co.uk