Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has invested in start-up accelerators and incubators in each of the last five years.

Growth Deals

Several accelerator and incubator projects were proposed under Growth Deals and the details of these and the associated costs are attached in the annex. Note that Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have the flexibility to reprioritise projects based on local needs.

At Budget 2015 the government announced an additional £11m investment in new tech entrepreneur hubs in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. They will create thriving local ecosystems by nurturing start-ups, fostering collaboration, and providing mentoring, learning and business support.

University Enterprise Zones

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is investing £15m capital in a three year pilot (14/15 – 16/17) to establish four University Enterprise Zones (UEZs) in Bradford, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham. Led by Universities, the UEZs will provide physical space/facilities for small, innovative start-up businesses. Businesses will also be able to access wraparound business support packages, specialist facilities and expert knowledge, including support from UKTI to promote inward investment onto their sites. The Government investment of £15m will leverage over £47m from private and public sector sources. The UEZs are focused on sectors of relevance to the areas – digital health, robotics, sensors and advance manufacturing.

Projects commenced in the second half of 2014/15 and the majority of the funding will be pulled down in years 15/16 and 16/17. The first centres will open for business in spring 2016.

Profiled expenditure is in the table below.

Science Park Business Incubator

The Government is providing £4.8m capital funding in 2015/16 for a new business incubator on Cambridge Science Park (Cambridge Science Park Technology Centre). The incubator will support innovative, early stage companies, primarily in the life sciences sector. This forms part of the Government’s long term economic plan for the East of England to increase the growth rate, building on the world class science and technology base of Cambridge and the surrounding area.

Full details of current Growth Deals projects can be found in the attached document.