Recent research from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shows that business leaders expect clean tech to be the UK’s highest growth sector in the coming years. The Incubator scheme has a track record of preparing start-ups and spin-outs to attract all-important investment, with the 90 companies that have been incubated so far having raised around £86 million (€98 million) in private funding.
The Carbon Trust, an independent company set up in 2001 by Government in response to the threat of climate change, is on the lookout for 25 new joiners to the scheme over the coming year with up to £70 thousand (€80.1 thousand) of support on offer to each. This covers strategic and business development consultancy, advice on corporate finance, management team recruitment and mentoring, product development, market research and engagement and guidance on intellectual property protection.
Dave Raval, head of the Carbon Trust incubation scheme, said: “The UK has led the development of many low carbon technologies, but we must nurture and harness the UK’s spirit of innovation and ingenuity to generate the maximum economic benefit from the global clean tech revolution. The incubator scheme has a track record of turning clean tech innovations into high-growth businesses.”
Incubatee companies typically attract around £16 of private funding for every £1 spent on incubation services. Companies that joined the scheme in 2008/09 alone have gone on to raise almost £19 million (€21.7 million) in private investment with the Carbon Trust's support.
Jon Treanor, CEO of Milton Park-based Conduit Partners, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed as an Incubator Partner for the Carbon Trust. By working with partners who can offer direct, hands-on experience of successful early-stage technology commercialisation, the Carbon Trust Incubation scheme is ideally placed to support companies innovating in the carbon-reducing sector and fast track them to a high growth trajectory. The expansion of the programme creates a very compelling proposition to innovators who are driving the low carbon future and we encourage those companies to contact the scheme partners.”
The boost to the Incubator scheme forms part of the Carbon Trust’s Clean Tech Revolution campaign, which aims to make the UK a global hub of low carbon innovation and ensure it reaps the rewards of developing new clean tech industries. Recent Carbon Trust analysis demonstrated the UK could generate up to £70 billion (€80.1 billion) for the economy and almost 250,000 jobs in offshore wind and wave power alone.
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