While we can’t overlook the importance of fostering the right environment for entrepreneurs to thrive, and the ecosystems which can be cultivated through clustering within the Arc’s many science parks, urban centres, and districts of innovation, commercialising research relies on mentorship, advice, and practical guidance. After all, there is no better or more well-equipped teacher than those who have taken a similar journey.
‘Matchmaking’ entrepreneurs with advisers and other skilled educators within the Arc’s science and innovation communities opens up meaningful avenues for collaboration. These networks share and co-ordinate knowledge, educate others on the “do’s and dont’s”, and connect budding entrepreneurs with user-friendly routes to finance, prospective partners, and business support. When government assistance is particularly complex to access, especially in the form of R&D tax breaks, these loose-knit forums provide the tools necessary for entrepreneurs in their infancy to navigate available incentives.
Because these communities are not formalised in the same way as guilds, worshipful companies and chartered associations are, it is easy to overlook their importance. Yet, in spite of this, these forums strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit of the region and provide a layer of connectivity that further emboldens tacit connections to academic and industry clusters. The Arc’s unparalleled growth is, in part, a by-product of these informal gatherings that encourages more business and investment in the region, attracting others to the region and creating a hinterland of excellence.
It isn’t just in Oxford and Cambridge that the demand for matchmaking is prevalent. In my experience interest extends into Milton Keynes, south Bucks, Bedford, Luton, Northampton and around the universities in the centre of the Arc, particularly where there is an outstanding variety of embryonic and well-established enterprises in the technology space. Connecting capital partners with potentially world-changing ideas is not always as proportionate as we’d like it to be, however; I’ve heard repeatedly from prospective investors that they’d also welcome support with how to assume positions as angel investors and catch opportunities to inject seed funding when they arise.
The Arc has all the right ingredients, including businesses ranging from small-scale spinouts and start-ups to multinationals, pioneering educational institutions, supportive local authorities, and numerous forward-thinking administrative bodies, to actively nurture entrepreneurship in the region. Support networks like the Silverstone Technology Cluster and centres of excellence built around specialisms like human performance technologies, cryogenics, and nano-technology, further foster a sense of community, and make as much room as they can to accommodate new businesses.
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