Innovate UK launches new community for UK start-ups

Enhancing the visibility of start-ups

Focusing on incubators and accelerators that support technology start-ups to grow and scale, the Start-up Connect community aims to enhance visibility across the ecosystem and foster deeper collaboration and partnership opportunities.

Insight shows UK entrepreneurs exist beyond the ‘Golden Triangle’ (Oxford, Cambridge, London), but investors lack access to them. The ecosystem community can work together to solve this. By sharing best practices and supporting each other, it aims to help early-stage businesses grow into global tech players, ensuring they get the support they need, when they need it.

The event included a keynote from Dr Lisa Smith (CEO, Midlands Mindforge), a capital investment company co-founded by eight research-intensive universities in the West Midlands. She highlighted the exceptional talent and ideas coming out of the UK. However, emphasising the stark gap in investment between start-ups in the ‘Golden Triangle’ and the rest of the UK. She suggested there was a big opportunity to boost productivity and growth if investment levels could be increased across UK regions such as the Midlands.

The innovation ecosystem

This was followed by two panel discussions – one focusing on start-ups and the other on spin-outs with businesses, investors and innovation ecosystem leaders. The panels discussed the different pathways, from having a great idea to creating a successful business. The focus explored what makes a business attractive to an investor, and what challenges early-stage R&D businesses face.

This event signalled the beginning of a community of organisations who support start-ups across the UK. We know there is great work being done by incubators and accelerators, but it is quite fragmented and often businesses don’t know where to access support. If we can make support more visible and easier to access, we will help more start-ups to survive and maximise their growth potential.

– Geeta Nathan, Deputy Director of Start-Up Ecosystem, Innovate UK

Innovate UK ICURe

To complement Start-up Connect Innovate UK ICURe will help to commercialise university research by linking a new pathway to Investor Partnerships. From 2025, ICURe spin-outs will have the opportunity, if ready, to have direct access to Innovate UK’s Investor Partnerships in the programme’s final stage.