Regional innovation centre identifies need for a European incubator service
The Southern Oxfordshire Enterprise Hub (SOEH) is a publicly funded organisation in the UK that provides support to entrepreneurs and businesses through a number of innovation centres. Established in 2003, the hub is still establishing itself as a key actor in the promotion of innovation in the UK's south east region, but in an interview with CORDIS News, SOEH Director Mike Wright explained that he already sees a wider role for the hub, together with like minded partners in other countries, to act as an entry point for companies wishing to break into new European markets. The core aim of SOEH is to maintain Oxfordshire's traditional position of strength in generating scientific and technological innovation and creating successful spin off ventures. Success is measured in terms of the number of jobs and companies created, and with the Harwell innovation centre, one of three innovation centres within the hub, having just attracted its 50th start up company since 2000, progress is being made. 'Oxfordshire's high levels of innovation are due to a combination of factors, but the Enterprise Hubs play a key role,' says Mr Wright. 'We provide specialist advice on how to commercialise ideas, and on help to raise finance, for example by putting investors in touch with companies to help them understand how to attract investment capital.' The hub supports organisations in many different sectors including biomedicine, communications, environmental science, information technology, and engineering, and their clients range from individual entrepreneurs to large research institutions. In specific areas, SOEH has already developed some links with European networks, for example through the Oxfordshire Biolink network, which seeks to promote collaboration between biotech companies at regional, national and European level. But Mr Wright believes that innovation centres such as Harwell could play a much more central role in creating European opportunities for innovative enterprises. 'For most of the companies that we have worked with, moving into other European markets tends to feature later in the business plan, but we are trying to encourage even small companies to think about it sooner,' he explains. 'Especially in highly globalised sectors such as biotech, where your competitors are not simply local companies, but could be based anywhere in the world.' Mr Wright believes that for companies outside of the UK looking to break into new markets, innovation centres and enterprise hubs such as SOEH could provide the vital first step, or 'stop off point' that they need to get them started, by giving them all the support and local expertise that they provide to UK companies on a daily basis. Furthermore, if innovation centres across Europe could be brought together to form a network of these stop off points, that would enable Mr Wright to steer client companies towards markets and opportunities for collaboration in other parts of the EU, thus improving their competitiveness further. 'The basic idea is that incubators and innovation centres act as introducers to new countries and markets,' said Mr Wright. 'It is a successful model that is already working well between Japan and the US, and I'm sure that it would benefit European companies too.' Mr Wright acknowledged that the success of such an idea would depend on identifying a like minded partner, so that the basis for such a collaboration could be worked out. When asked what role he saw for the EU in such a network, Mr Wright said that it could facilitate the process by providing resources for building contacts and identifying areas for collaboration.
Kraje
United Kingdom