M-SParc's Accelerator Programme

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Jane Lambert

The Menai Science Park's announcement of an accelerator programme in conjunction with Bangor University is potentially very important because startup accelerators like Y Combinator, TechStars and Seedcamp are among the reasons for the success of Silicon Valley.  They offer mentoring and networking with privileged access to investment.  They benefit both entrepreneurs and investors as well as the organizations that host those programmes.

Though the idea of selecting and nurturing a cohort of promising young businesses originated in the United States it quickly spread to Shenzhen, Hydrabad and the rest of the world including the United Kingdom.  There are now very successful accelerator programmes around Silicon Roundabout (roughly Shoreditch to the Olympic Park in Stratford), Silicon Fen (Cambridge) and Silicon Glen (St Andrews, Dundee and Edinburgh).  We even have our own Silicon Ginnel in Yorkshire which I mentioned in Accelerators and Incubators in the Leeds City Region on 22 Jan 2017 in IP Yorkshire.   I featured the Northern Max healthcare accelerator in Bradford on 12 Jan 2018 and was lucky enough to attend its demo day a few weeks later (see Jane Lambert NorthernMAX Demo Day 25 March 2018 IP Yorkshire).

For entrepreneurs who are considering an accelerator programme, I compiled an Accelerator and Incubator resource page in 2017.  Some of those articles have been written by me but there are also contributions from others.   The page needs to be updated but the basic information is there.  Up to now, there have not been too many accelerator programmes in Wales which may explain why a Cardiff fintech firm Delio travelled all the way to Dubai to join that emirate's accelerator (see Jane Lambert British Participation in Dunai FinTech Accelerator Programme  22 Aug 2017 NIPC Gulf).

Anyone who wants to join Sbardun (the M-Sparc and Bangor University programme) will have to move quickly because applications must be lodged by 17 Feb 2022.  Those who are chosen will undergo 

"A five-month programme for North Wales' top startups. Expert mentoring, a community of likeminded founders, your own global advisory board with powerful networks and exclusive opportunities for growth."

Almost certainly the businesses on the programme will establish brands and create new products and processes which is where patent and trade mark attorneys and IP lawyers come in.  They will also enter shareholders agreements with each other and investors which is where commercial lawyers can help.  A network of specialist advisors is rapidly establishing itself around the Menai region.  I wonder how long it will take for the name "Silicon Strait" or "Afon Silicon" to catch on.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form. 

Two Kinds of Accelerators - Colin Jackson in a Race and Accelerators for Startups

Colin Jackson

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Jane Lambert

Last Tuesday, Emily Roberts of M-SParc interviewed the world champion athlete Colin Jackson over Zoom. I joined the Zoom call because it is not every day that one gets a chance to meet a great athlete.  I had also seen Colin Jackson's Welsh Language Journey of 11 June 2020 which was very impressive. As I have also just started to learn Welsh, I hoped to pick up some hints and tips from him.

Colin delivered an inspiring talk.  Emily gave me the best possible if not the most original advice, namely "ymarfer".  It was endorsed by Colin.  He also unexpectedly prompted another question when he mentioned that he had named his academy "Red Shoes."  I was immediately reminded of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the Powell and Pressburger film that launched the career of Moira Shearer and the dance drama by Sir Matthew Bourne. Prosaically, Colin said that he had chosen the name because he wore red shoes at his last event before retirement.  I would respectfully invite him to take advantage of the coincidence because dance and athletics have a lot in common.  I think he would find a receptive new market for his services.

Immediately after Colin's interview, we learned of an accelerator programme in North Wales to be delivered by the Excelerator Consortium, a joint venture between The Winning Pitch and Impact Innovation.  Accelerator programmes are officially described as fixed-term, cohort-based programmes, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day.  Another way of describing an accelerator is as a cross between The Apprentice and Dragons' Den. Your idea is pinched, pulled and prodded tested to destruction but if it survives you will receive training, mentoring and ultimately funding.

The very first accelerator programme was offered by Y Combinator which, despite the apparently Cambrian definite article, began life, not in Wales but California. The basic idea is set out in About YC:

"In 2005, Y Combinator developed a new model of startup funding. Twice a year they invest a small amount of money in a large number of startups. The startups move to Silicon Valley for 3 months, and the YC partners work closely with each company to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each batch culminates in Demo Day, when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected audience of investors. Y Combinator has invested in over 2,000 companies including Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Reddit, Instacart, Docker and Gusto. The combined valuation of YC companies is over $100B."

I would urge everyone who is thinking of launching a new business no matter which part of the world in which he or she lives to browse the Y Accelerator website because it contains a wealth of free information.  In particular, I recommend the Startup School which describes itself as "a free online program and global community of founders."

According to The Guardian journalist, Tina Nielsen, Y Combinator's idea spread across the world quickly (see Nielsen Business accelerators: a financial shot in the arm for startups 24 Oct 2013 The Guardian). The first British accelerator was Seedcamp just 2 years later, NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) produced an authoritative report on incubators and accelerators for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and a directory in 2017 which I discussed in Business Incubators and Accelerators Directory 20 April 2020 NIPC News.  I also discussed some of the accelerators near my home in  Accelerators and Incubators in the Leeds City Region 22 April 2017 NIPC Yorkshire and Accelerators and Incubators in the Sheffield City Region 24 Aoruk 2017 NIPC Yorkshire,

In 2018 I got the chance to observe a new healthcare accelerator in Bradford which is 15 miles from my home (see Northern Max - a new Healthcare Accelerator in Bradford 12 Jan 2018 NIPC Yorkshire). At the end of the course, I attended its demo day where I met the course mentors (one of whom was a very old friend) and the cohort (see Bradford Healthcare Accelerator Programme comes to an End 26 March 2020 NIPC News).  You will see from NorthernMAX Demo Day 25 March 2028 NIPC Yorkshire that I was impressed.   Accelerator programmes really do seem to work.

There are now a lot of accelerator programmes in the UK and some are likely to be better than others.  I know very little about the Excelerator Consortium programme as I have only one contact in The Winning Pitch and it is a long time since I last heard from him. But the fact that the  Consortium has connections with the Welsh government, Business Wales, some reputable Cardiff professional services firms, financial institutions and universities are good signs.  The case histories on the Excelerator Consortium website look promising.   The programme is well worth checking out.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or accelerators and incubators generally is welcome to call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me message through my contact form.   I wish anyone setting up a business pob lwc.

Completion of Aberystwyth's Science Park on Time and on Budget

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Jane Lambert

On 24 Aug 2020, a huge replica of a key was handed to the management of the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus (Aberinnovation) at Gogerddan to mark the completion of the construction. According to Ben Jones. it was finished on time and on budget (see Jones Handover signals the completion of the new Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus 26 Aug 2020). The construction of that science park would have been noteworthy at any time but, as much of the work had to be carried out during lockdown, it is all the more remarkable.
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I first learned about the plan to build a science park when I visited Aberystwyth University's Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Science ("IBERS") on 13 March 2019 to deliver a talk on Intellectual Property Rights relating to Waste Management and Sustainable Packaging at a workshop on sustainable packaging and waste that had been organized by the Beacon Biorefining Centre of Excellence.  IBERS and Beacon had been at Gogerddan for many years. IBERS has a worldwide reputation for its research in agriculture, plant breeding and related technologies while Beacon is a partnership between Aberystwyth and several other Welsh universities to commercialize research in those technologies.  The idea of the science park was to attract a cluster of science and technology-based businesses to Gogerddan that could contribute to such research as well as exploit it.  I discussed the idea of clusters when I visited IBERS for a second time on 19 June 2019 for a workshop  entitled "From Plants to Bio-Based Products The Challenges to and Opportunities for Development and Scale-up in Wales." (see Jane Lambert
"From Plants to Bio-Based Products" Motivation and Mutual Learning Workshop in Aberystwyth on 21 June 2010).

On 28 Feb 2020, the science park published its first newsletter which I blogged in Aberinnovation: Mid-Wales's New Science Park.   The newsletter discussed the progress of the construction work and its first seminars.   I learned about the completion of the project from Mr Jones's newsletter which was mentioned on Linkedin.  It appears from its website that all the science park's facilities are now open, that the first tenants have moved in, an accelerator for businesses in biosciences, healthcare, agri-tech and food and drink sectors will be launched in September and a webinar with Dr Rhian Hayward, the park's chief executive officer, will take place on 23 Sept 2020.

The inventions, new plant and seed varieties and other technologies to be developed in Gogerddan as well as the brands of the new businesses will require legal protection if they are to be exploited.  According to the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys' database, there are no patent attorneys within 50 miles of Gorgoddan.  That is also true of the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) on Anglesey but over the last 2 years a number of support networks have formed to advise and assist not just the park's tenants but all other businesses in Northwest Wales (see Ecosystem 2.0 of 21 Aug 2020).  Those networks presented Wales's only contribution to World Intellectual Property Day in 2019 and 2020.  There is no reason why similar networks should not emerge around Gogerddan. If they do, I should be glad to participate in them.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any of the issues contained in it may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.