INSIGHTS / News

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High-tech start-ups incubated by SETsquared will have contributed an estimated over £11 billion in GVA (Gross Value Added) to the UK economy by 2025.

New research indicates that companies that have benefited from incubation by SETsquared, the enterprise partnership of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey, have already contributed some £3.8 billion in GVA over the last 12 years and are likely to contribute a further £7.3 billion in the decade to come. The study, commissioned from Warwick Economics & Development is based on the 1,041 companies that have already benefitted from SETsquared services in their formative years and excludes any further economic impact from companies that SETsquared is set to incubate in the future.

The findings of the economic impact study were released today (4 December) as SETsquared takes an important step forward in expanding the availability of its services to more entrepreneurs and start-ups with the launch of a new business hub in Basingstoke. The hub will help hi-tech start-ups to raise investment expected to reach some £20 million in a town which has been earmarked as a growth area.

Simon Bond, Innovation Director at SETsquared, said: “This economic impact study shows the profound effect that companies incubated by SETsquared have had on our region’s economy. However, our thoughts are now firmly focused on the future and we want to make sure that we have the resource and the opportunity to make an even bigger impact in the decade ahead.

The new study also showed that companies incubated by SETsquared have created 9,000 jobs since 2002 and that this number is estimated in increase to 14,200 by 2025.

The announcement follows the news earlier this month from UK fund management firm Octopus Investments that ‘high-growth small businesses account for just 1 per cent of the business community, yet generated 68 per cent of new jobs in the UK between 2012 and 2013.