UK universities partnership deemed the best in Europe at fostering start-ups
SET squared, a company that is partnered with several outstanding universities (such as Exeter University) and which supports the growth and success of new business ventures, has come Joint first in Europe at successfully incubating businesses, an independent survey has revealed.
The University Business Incubator (UBI) Index has listed the SETsquared incubator as the best in Europe, alongside jointly-placed NDRC LaunchPad in the Republic of Ireland. The ranking puts SETsquared fourth in the world, and joint first outside of the US.
SET squared, which have partnerships with the likes of Exeter, Bath, and Bristol University, has helped to start up 1,000 high tech startups since the project began 10 years ago. Already this year SET squared has helped companies within its incubator raise 34m in investment. The sale of previously supported Ubiquisys, to US giant Cisco earned SET squared a staggering $310m. Other successful firms from the SETsquared incubator include the world’s first equity-based crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube, and PrimerDesign, which produced the world’s first swine-flu detection kit.
Sean Fielding, Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Exeter said:
“We knew the Innovation Centre in Exeter was helping to drive an innovation culture throughout the City but it’s great to have this endorsement that we are amongst the best in the world. The Centre is also helping the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. We have already had some great successes including Mod My Pi, a SETsquared Graduate Business of the Year, who have achieved an astonishing £1M turnover in its first year and student entrepreneurs have just won the Microsoft global app challenge in St Petersburg and are now in Atlanta presenting to Microsoft engineers. These knowledge based businesses are the key to the UK’s future growth and competitiveness in the world markets and universities have a huge role to play in providing the right tools to enable them to get off to a flying start.”
Over the last five years the Exeter Innovation Centre and associated Co-Venturing programmes in the region have created 38 new businesses, supported 332 businesses and created 542 jobs using this methodology.
Partnership Director, Graham Harrison, said:
“These successes, combined with the UBI Index ranking, are proof that our model works. We have been supporting the UK’s economic growth by championing these innovative start-ups for the last 10 years and, without question, we see the UK’s economy over the next decade being underpinned by the kind of high-tech, start-up businesses being nurtured in our centres.”
For more information about SET Squared visit www.setsquared.co.uk
