SETsquared, the University of Bath-backed innovation partnership, has been named as the best in the world after creating 9,000 jobs and contributing £3.8bn to the UK economy.
From its launch 13 years ago, SETsquared – which has its Bath base in the city’s Innovation Centre – has supported more than 1,000 hi-tech start-ups to develop and raise more than £1bn of investment.
The partnership, which also includes the universities of Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey, currently supports 265 companies.
SETsquared, claimed top spot on the University Business Incubator (UBI) Index’s global list after rising from number two last year. The table is the first global index to benchmark the performance and best practice of university business incubators.
SETsquared supports hi-tech start-ups through its incubation programme and other business acceleration services.
SETsquared Bath-based innovation director Simon Bond said: “It’s an incredible achievement to be recognised as the best university incubator in the world, and we’re all absolutely ecstatic with the news. Everyone involved with SETsquared works extremely hard to fulfil our commitment to helping entrepreneurs and start-ups and the ranking is a real testament to the skill and innovation of our staff, as well as showing how vital our services are in each area we operate in.
“The UK was recently ranked as the second most innovative country in the world by the Global Innovation Index as a result of its performance in infrastructure, market sophistication, knowledge, technology and creative outputs.
“At SETsquared we’re very proud to help put the UK on the map as one of the top performing countries in the world for innovation and will continue our dedication to helping grow entrepreneurs and start-up businesses to their full potential.”
The UBI Index is the first global index to benchmark the performance and best practice of university business incubators. The organisation held continental rankings around the world, culminating in the global ranking event in London yesterday.
Co-founder and director of research at UBI Global, Dhruv Bhatli, said: “We’re delighted to see SETsquared named as the best in the world. The partnership’s continued dedication to entrepreneurs and start-ups has resulted in high economic impact and growth for the companies it supports.”
Companies based at SETsquared take part in schemes such as its Entrepreneurship Training Programme, which helps entrepreneurs turn their business ideas into investor propositions; Researcher to Innovator, a three-day residential course to help early stage researchers acquire the skills to turn projects into commercial realities; and the ICURe Innovation to Commercialisation Programme, which is funded by InnovateUK and HEFCE, to help market validate commercialisation opportunities from research.
Pictured: Simon Bond, fourth from left, with the Bath SETsquared team
