The Carbon Trust has named Oxford-based early-stage business growth consultancies Conduit Partners and Isis Innovation as incubator partners to provide advice and support to the low car
The Carbon Trust has named Oxford-based early-stage business growth consultancies Conduit Partners and Isis Innovation as incubator partners to provide advice and support to the low carbon technology companies in its incubation scheme.
Recent research from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shows that business leaders expect cleantech to be the UK’s highest growth sector in the coming years.
Ninety companies that have been incubated so far in Carbon Trust’s scheme have raised around GBP86m in private funding.
The Carbon Trust is on the lookout for 25 new joiners to the scheme over the coming year with up to GBP70k 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.
Incubatee companies typically attract around GBP16 of private funding for every GBP1 spent on incubation services. Companies that joined the scheme in 2008/09 have gone on to raise almost GBP19m in private investment with the Carbon Trust’s support.
Dave Raval, head of the Carbon Trust incubation scheme, says: ‘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. You may have a great technology or service idea, but to make it fly and become a commercial reality, you need a strong business behind you and the know-how to attract investment. The incubator scheme has a track record of turning clean tech innovations into high-growth businesses.’
Jon Treanor, chief executive of Milton Park-based Conduit Partners, says: ‘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 cleantech industries. Recent Carbon Trust analysis demonstrated the UK could generate up to GBP70bn for the economy and almost 250,000 jobs in offshore wind and wave power alone.
To assist the scheme’s expansion, the Carbon Trust has selected six early-stage business growth consultancies who will lead the delivery of the incubation support: Angle Technology, CLT, Conduit Partners, E-Synergy, Isis Innovation and TTP. In addition, the Carbon Trust Incubator Network has been established to assist this, and help scout for promising low carbon technology companies across the UK. The network includes SETIC (East Kilbride), UMIC (Manchester), SETsquared (Bath), Life-IC (Rotherham) and Imperial Innovations (London).
