With the economic meltdown seemingly steadying (no mention of green shoots here please!), its a positive sign to see The Apprentice’s star being appointed to advise on measures to support and grow entrepreneurs. At the same time, BERR have announced a new review into measures to employ to help SMEs access credit. 

The Growth Capital Review is one of the first measures to be taken forward from the Government’s ‘New Industry, New Jobs’ strategic plan for Britain’s recovery. The plan focuses on the resources our businesses need to prepare for the upturn and prioritises high growth firms being able to access the financing they need as opportunities emerge in a new, global economy.

The review will determine if any intervention, including a modern-day version of Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation/3i, is required to ensure small and medium sized firms with good growth potential have access to the capital they need to take advantage of the upturn.

With all of the shuffling around in Westminster,  now is the perfect time to focus on ensuring that enterprise and innovation are seen as fundamentals to the socioeconomic wellbeing of the nation. When voting yesterday in the European Elections, speculation was rife that voters would use their ballots to protest about the MPs expenses debacle. Indeed, as I looked through the manifestos crammed through my own letterbox, they all focussed on expenses on not on the issues that are really important:

• health
• crime
• education
• the economy

But as we head towards the election that really counts, the general election, I’d like the parties to add another manifesto fundamental: economic development. Without it, how are we going to pay for health services, the police and a world class educational system amongst all of the other vote winning policies? Britain was once the powerhouse of ideas, innovations and enterprise. Those within the business incubation community knows that it still is, although stiffled through a lack of investment and real support from policy makers.

So, for all of those campaign managers out there preparing the manifestos for the impending election and all the MPs who now have a lot of time on their hands after standing down, consider the importance, nay necessity, of economic development and business incubation’s role in it. It could just be a public vote winner and you may hear: “You’re Hired!”

Toni Wanklin

Marketing and Development Manager

UK Business Incubation

Basically though there was not enough for those of us wanting to start-up a business or continue to develop their growing businesses through business incubation. Then again given the borrowing requirement (PSBR) thats not such a suprise. I do note though that the next general election seems more likely to be after next years budget, given the lack of ‘give a ways’ announced this week.

It was also not a suprise that we didn’t get tea at our meeting with the Treasury…we didn’t complain, times are tough

Malcolm Buckler CEO, UKBI

But, when reading through the hundreds of pages of text following his brief 45 minute announcement, I began to notice a chink of light and a bit of promise. £750m funding for science and technology.  Focus on clean technologies, creative industries and innovation.

Darling has committed to a new £750m Strategic Investment Fund designed to improve the creation of emerging technologies, boost the UK’s innovation capacity and prepare for a 21^st century economy.  The chancellor said: “This new fund will provide financial support, focusing on emerging technologies and regionally important sectors in, for example, advanced manufacturing, digital and biotechnology. It will encourage exports, support inward investment, promote research and development and harness commercially our world-class science base. These efforts also have the potential to create thousands of hi-tech businesses and hundreds of thousands of high-skilled jobs,” he added.

In addition, Darling reaffirmed the government’s commitment to science and technology as cornerstones of the UK economy, stating that future growth will “increasingly come from an expansion in investment by businesses in the industries of the future, such as low-carbon, advanced manufacturing and communications. These industries, together, are as important to the British economy as the financial services sector. That is why it has been so important that we have increased investment in Britain’s science base by 88% in real terms over the last ten years,” continued Darling.

So, we’re going to come out of the recession stronger economically and competitively by creating thousands of high tech businesses and hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs? Actually, I’m now beginning to find something that I do like in the Budget!

So how are we going to create these businesses and jobs, grow them and make them sustainable? Maybe the Chancellor needs to talk to his opposite number within the Conservatives. David Mott recently presented a working group paper to George Osbourne and the Shadow Cabinet entitled  Supporting Clean Tech Enterprise In the UK: The Role of Incubators where he argues that a network of incubators, focussed on and funded to support clean tech innovations, will bring about real economical and technical advancements – positive to the economy and the environment.

The report argues that for £9M invested in clean tech incubators, 75 high tech businesses will be created and grown. After 6 years, and £45M public investment, 300 high tech businesses will be sustainable, all paying back valuable taxes, all employing highly skilled workers, all supporting a better environment for the world and all ensuring that the UK is competing on a global level. If only the Chancellor had read it before he invested so much in the dysfunctional financial sector.

Yesterday was a missed opportunity. A missed opportunity to focus on the UK’s economic and environmental challenges and support UKBI’s existing network of specialised, skilled  incubators already nurturing these succcessful high tech, innovative businesses in the UK .  

Toni Wanklin

Marketing and Development Manager

UKBI

UKBI  has long argued that investment in support science and engineering will provide the country with a platform to compete globally, creating and securing high value businesses and jobs that will continue to pay dividends for decades to come. However, this ‘new package’ should support existing commercialisation programmes that are proven to work and make significant returns.

The established nationwide network of business incubation environments are already in place to support the start-ups which will grow us out of recession and could do so much more with the right type of financial and political support. These business incubation environments bring together complementary innovators and technologies, providing them with access to the finance and expert advice they need to grow their ideas into sustainable businesses.

This quiet ‘revolution’ has taken place in the UK over 20 years, with little publicity or flag waving – yet they continue to provide a key element in the nurturing environment for the scientists whom this new £2b package is seeking to encourage.

The recently released Manchester Independent Economic Review states that funding for business incubation has been targeted at regenerating brownfield sites, rather than providing business incubation environments in places where high technology businesses want and need to be based.

UKBI has long argued that public funding for business incubation is too focussed on the property rather than the people and added value processes – business incubation is a tool for stimulating enterprise and innovation and then supporting it as it flourishes, not purely as a way to regenerate land that the private sector will not touch.

High-technology business incubation environments sit at the interface between the academic lab and industry, bringing the scientists, the financiers, the commercialisation experts and business people together to create successful and sustainable enterprises out of innovations – the virtuous circle which President Obama hopes to encourage by introducing an annual funding package to support business incubators in USA.

If the UK is going to compete in scientific research and exploitation for the next 10 years, let us not reinvent the wheel. Let us fund the proven mechanisms for getting ideas out of the labs and into the boardroom, namely the business incubation environments that are already supporting the scientific innovations that will compete with the US for years to come.

Graham Ross Russell

Chairman, UKBI

So will Mr Obama, or Gordon for that matter, say business incubation is brilliant and the key fix the world economy needs? I doubt it, although you can always dream.

But the key things for me is that a) the G20 is happening in London, b) business and support for business has never been higher up the agenda, c) the focus on what business/sectors are going to grow us out of recession and d) how do we take the opportunities of a low carbon world

And it seems to me that business incubation fits accross all these issues and that business incubation has a real opportunity to be able to help out Mr Obama, and of course Gordon, and get their and our economies going again. 

Malcolm Buckler, UKBI

Would the UK benefit from developing such a national policy – and would it enable the UK to build ‘innovation and entrepreneurship through business incubation’ into our socioeconomic national ‘DNA’ (as for example with education) – or is a (more)  ’free-market’ and, inevitably, partisan approach better?

Peter Harman

1. Entry/selection policy
2. Exit graduation policy
3. Business incubation process for the environment
4. Strategy for the environment to succeed as a business in its own right

Since 2003, UKBI have utilised the Framework to review the processes and procedures of more than 150 environments around the world, in all four corners of the globe.

Following these reviews and other evaluation and monitoring work across the globe, UKBI has further developed and enhanced the Framework, producing a rigorous and robust accreditation model, enabling incubation environments and their stakeholders to measure their impact, review their processes and procedures, plan for their future development and identify strengths and weaknesses with a detailed action plan and implementation programme.

Whilst the industry is striving to deal with the impact of the global credit crunch, some may think that now is not the time to be applying better practice. But, now is the perfect time to ensure that you are delivering what you and your funders set out to achieve, whilst also future proofing your environment to ensure sustainability and success in the future.

Toni Wanklin

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