INSIGHTS / News

Entrepreneurs, start-ups and businesses from across the South are being urged to learn about opportunities in ‘big data’ at a free networking event in Basingstoke next month.

The event, called Next Tech Wave, is jointly held by SETsquared, Europe’s top university business incubator, and the UK Space Agency and will bring together some of the South’s leading space related big data SMEs to explore opportunities for start-ups developing new infrastructure, software and services.

Big data has a £10billion global market, including next generation opportunities within the Internet of things, retail and health research sectors.

Adrian Braine, entrepreneur in residence at SETsquared’s Basingstoke hub and panel chair, said: “Many companies wouldn’t necessarily think of the space sector as an answer to help them with developing technology, but we want to show what working with the sector can do for businesses. Our hand-picked panel and selection of speakers includes representatives from companies including Democrata, nquiringminds, Soyl and Proteusgeo which are all leading the way with big data and are well-placed to explain the opportunities to innovative start-ups and entrepreneurs.”

Simon Bond, Innovation Director at SETsquared, said: “It’s very exciting for us to have big data companies in the area who are utilising location and earth observation data from space. This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, innovators and businesses from to understand how space data can be used to develop products and services.

“There are some great chances for business here, especially as far as big data analytics go. It gives us access to new sources of information including sensors, website visits, open data and satellite-sourced information and imagery.”

The event is happening on Thursday 2 July, from 5.30-8pm, at SETsquared’s Basing View hub and is free for entrepreneurs, investors, start-ups, innovation advisors and tech companies.

SETsquared’s hub at Basing View launched at the end of last year is expected to bring £20 million of investment to Basingstoke as well as support 20 new high growth companies over the next few years.

People wanting to register a place should visit SETsquared’s website.