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New partnership to boost renewable energy sector in Bristol
Regen SW and Engine Shed have announced a new partnership to support the renewable sector in Bristol. The collaboration will allow Regen SW member companies free access to the Engine Shed Business Lounge.
The agreement aims to support the rapid development of the low carbon sector in Bristol. It will provide Regen SW members with a meeting space to facilitate collaboration and networking with academics, high-tech, creative and low carbon entrepreneurs and innovators, business leaders, policy makers and professionals.
Merlin Hyman, Chief Executive of Regen SW, says: “With over 13,000 jobs in renewable energy and £3 billion invested in projects, the south west is a leader in the transition to a clean energy system. The new partnership with the Engine Shed will enable member companies to build on that success through collaboration and networking with fellow entrepreneurs and innovators, business leaders, academics and professionals.”
Learning Ships
You might have noticed some young people in The Junction. They are here for My Future My Choice Learning Ships activity to inspire primary school pupils from across Bristol into the wide range of careers that will be open to them in their futures, whilst exploring the heritage of their city through Underfall Yard and the floating harbour to Brunel's Engine Shed. Volunteers are being sought for the activity taking place here and at local schools with the next event 10 June. For more info about the project, please visit their page on Neighbourly and for other dates visit their info for volunteers page.
Crowd10 Showcase
On 1 June, IdeaSquares, WebStart Bristol and SETsquared company, hosted Crowd10 Showcase, a new crowd-funding initiative supporting ten early stage startups in their equity crowd-funding campaigns on one of the UK’s leading platforms, Crowdcube with some of the companies already live for investment. See the pitches and find out about the companies on TechSPARK.
Social Enterprise summit
Also on 1 June, Social Enterprise Works, based in Boxworks #10, hosted the UK's social enterprise places summit. You can find out what happened in our boardroom and why social enterprise is thriving in Bristol.
Seats for Start Ups
Bristol and Bath’s start-ups and young entrepreneurial businesses can book themselves onto a flight path for growth across the UK and into Europe under a new scheme launched in March 2016 offering free airline tickets.
Each month up to three businesses can win return flights to Europe on bmi regional flights from Bristol Airport to Paris, Aberdeen, Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Dusseldorf.
As well as offering the opportunity to travel to meet new business prospects face to face around the UK and Europe, winners will also benefit from a one-hour consultation with an expert coach at UKTI to provide invaluable advice about business growth.
May winners are Wildforesters, Bristol Aero and Paperclip
Please visit the website for more information and how to apply for the next chance to win - deadline 15 June.
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Events at Engine Shed
- Listen Live - RSA lecture - Heart of the Matter: The EU, 7 June, 1.15 pm. How can we cut through the adversarialism, caricature, counter-claims and ‘noise’, to understand what really divides people on Europe? Speaking for Remain: Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat MP for Sheffield Hallam, speaking for Leave: Andrea Leadsom, Conservative MP for South Nottinghamshire and chaired by Matthew Taylor, RSA Chief Executive
- MassChallenge UK Info Session, 16 June 6 pm - 8 pm. Don't miss out on your chance to grab a piece of £500,000 in no-equity cash awards and access to a global network of mentors and enterprises and book in advance.
- Roots HR - Free management and leadership training, 22 June 9 am - 1 pm FREE half day essential HR, recruitment and selection, and equality and diversity training course. Book via the Roots HR website.
- Engine Shed Finance Series: The US and UK outlook for venture capital funding, 29 June 4 pm - 5 pm. Talk with Q&A, followed by drinks and networking. A must attend event for those wishing to understand the venture capital landscape in both the UK and USA, and will be especially valuable to companies seeking investment over £500,000. The presentation and interactive Q&A will be facilitated by PWC’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Valuation Team Leader, Carol Lee. Book in advance to secure your place.
SETsquared Workshops (small fee for non-SETsquared members):
Also keep your calendar up to date with these resources:
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The Platform 14 Innovation Showcase exhibits are open to everyone to find out about the great tech, creative and low carbon projects happening in Bristol and Bath, from Monday to Friday 8.30 am - 5.30 pm. Free admission.
Current Exhibition - ‘The Story of Scrap’ with Children's Scrapstore. 3 May - 28 June 2016.
‘The Story of Scrap’ is an adventurous collaboration between students at Patchway Community College, local charity Children’s Scrapstore, Cameron Balloons, and Coniston Primary School in Patchway.
Taking inspiration from Brandon Stanton’s renowned ‘Humans of New York’ collection, it uses images to illustrate how Children’s Scrapstore reuses manufacturing waste, for a new lease of life as children’s play resources, achieving environmental and social benefits and saving businesses disposal costs. The project exhibits the circular economy of scrap, and the journey of materials from their intended use, eventually into the Scrapstore where they are sent out to PlayPods in school playgrounds/made available to child minders, playgroups and anyone who works with children and adults in a therapeutic setting.
Engine Shed and Children's Scrapstore will be running an adult play session in Platform 14 on 15 June from 12 - 1 pm - bring your own lunch and come and make something fun out of scrap donated by local businesses and get to know your fellow Engine Shed users. If you'd like to come along, drop Lorraine an email.
On next...University of Bristol School of Physics - engaging with industry, 1 July 9.30 am - 3.00 pm
The School of Physics is one of the largest centres for research and post- and undergraduate training in the UK. We have exceptional technical facilities and internationally leading researchers and train the next generation of experts. Our research portfolio includes development of quantum optical devices on chip, functional nano materials, revolutionary instrumentation for probing biological systems at the molecular scale, novel semiconductor devices and materials, big data processing and high speed data handling.
We are open to explore new collaborations with local industry to exploit the full potential of our knowledge and facilities. In particular we aim to focus part of our research on challenges relevant to industry and work on these in collaboration with industry. This is not limited to our academic staff, but we aim to improve our undergraduate and postgraduate experience and employability. Also, we will have some talks in The Junction from our staff on some of our research.
10:30 am – Overview of the School of Physics with a focus on how to work with our excellent staff, students and facilities on your projects – Dr J. Velthuis
11:00 am – Data mining, computing challenges and fast data processing techniques (hardware and software) developed in Bristol for the CMS experiment at the LHC – Prof D. Newbold
11:30 am – Developing tools for nanoscale systems – Dr M. Antognozzi
6 - 20 July - UWE Arch@20
UWE ARCH@20 presents work from UWE, Bristol’s Department of Architecture and the Built Environment on the twentieth anniversary of the inception of the Architecture & Planning course at UWE. The exhibition shows the Department’s best graduate students’ creative architecture practice. It showcases work across a spectrum of architecture programmes including: Masters of Architecture, Architecture and Planning, Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Architectural Technology and Design and Interior Architecture. The opening of the show on Wednesday 6th July at 6pm will include a launch event discussing the trans-disciplinary and collaborative ethos of architectural thinking and education the UWE, Bristol’s school of architecture has developed over the last twenty years.
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The components at Engine Shed are:
Bristol SETsquared Centre
Co-working open to all
Invest Bristol and Bath
WebStart Bristol
West of England LEP
Brunel's boardroom suite meeting rooms for hire
Business lounge
Boxworks (operated commercially by Forward)
Some news from our tenants:
West of England LEP
Through the LEP’s Annual Employer Skills Survey, the views of employers across the West of England are being sought on recruitment experiences, skills gaps and more to influence the area’s future skills strategy.
Aligned to our vision to develop a local workforce with the right skills to meet the current and future needs of the local economy, the LEP is committed to understanding and tackling skills gaps, talent shortages and other skills priorities. With the spotlight on education and training at all levels, the information you provide will be invaluable in informing the future local skills landscape, meeting your business and sector’s needs as well as helping provide relevant, sustainable training opportunities for local people.
Last year, over 640 local businesses of all shapes and sizes contributed to this important research, leading directly to the publication of a suite of Local Sector Skills Statements which, right now, is helping partners improve the quality of careers advice, increase the take-up of apprenticeships and deliver ever more relevant and accessible education and training to meet the needs of our dynamic business community.
West of England LEP Director of Skills, Adam Powell said: “By bringing business and education closer together through this research, a greater shared understanding of local needs and demands will not only benefit employers, but individuals and the local economy as a whole. We simply can’t do this without the contributions of local businesses – their input and insights are invaluable and we’d very much like to hear their views.”
Please click here to begin the survey now.
2. Get in Go Far with Apprenticeships in the West of England
Apprenticeships are a great way for young people – and adults – to develop value skills whilst working; and they’re also great for business and the economy, with qualified apprentices boosting apprentices by £214 per week.
For all the latest apprenticeship information ranging from frameworks and standards, pay and the application process, the Apprenticeship Levy or our live apprenticeship vacancies map, visit Apprenticeship Hub West for independent, impartial advice on this and much more. Whether you’re a micro- or small business, HR professional in a multinational firm, teacher, parent/carer or a prospective apprentice wanting to find out more, Apprenticeship Hub West has all you need to know from fact-sheets and short videos to helpful links and local case studies.
3. Could you or a colleague offer strategic support to a local school?
Are you looking for a great way to develop leadership and management capacity as well as strategic planning and project management skills? As part of a high-profile Careers and Enterprise Company initiative to create powerful connections between local businesses and schools, we are looking for middle-senior managers or business leaders who could support specially-selected head teachers and school senior leadership teams in developing their careers strategies and employer engagement plans. If you think you or your business fit the bill, or have a member of staff seeking a unique supported programme of CPD, and would like to find out more please visit the Enterprise Adviser Network pages on our website or email enterprise@westofengland.org for more details.
Invest in Bristol and Bath
The UK’s first Smart Cities Index has named Bristol as the country’s leading smart city outside London and leader of the pack for digital innovation.
The report by global information and communications solutions company Huawei, compares and evaluates the 10 leading smart cities in the UK with the aim of celebrating best practice and identifying challenges which need to be overcome for cities to become smarter.
Bristol is identified as one of only two cities in the country named as a smart city Leader, the other being London. These two cities have set themselves apart from the others through their clarity, breadth and inclusiveness of their smart city visions and planning, and are leading the way in implementing significant projects at both the pilot and full-scale levels. The other eight cities have been identified as Contenders, Challengers and Followers.
Bristol is particularly strong in the digital innovation category, which evaluates the city’s strategy to develop and exploit digital technologies and services, scoring the top mark of 92 out of a possible 100 points. It also comes out top for stakeholder engagement, implementation of projects and delivery of the city’s digital strategy. Bristol’s overall score in the Smart Cities Index is 80.2, just behind London which scored 80.5.
Smart Cities is a term which is used to describe a city which uses technological innovation to deliver services in an economically viable and environmentally sustainable way. Smart cities are being built on an intelligent urban infrastructure of connected devices.
Read more on the Invest in Bristol and Bath website.
Bristol SETsquared Centre
My Action Replay, SETsquared members based here at Engine Shed, were named success of the month at the centre's last Beer 'n' Pizza networking evening, for being finalists in the UK Active Flame Awards, under the spark of innovation impact awards category. Well done to them!
Some great news for another of our resident companies and University of Bristol spin out SSBN - their Global Flood hazard data has been incorporated into a new World Bank tool, ThinkHazard!. Along with the provision of data, SSBN’s expertise was also used to validate the tool and provide recommendations for end users. The new tool was produced by the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), and aims to improve disaster risk awareness and response. Read the full article on the University of Bristol website.
Neighbourly have some great opportunities for volunteering across Bristol including the week commencing 11 June. There's 24 events in total from painting to sewing and making tea - so something for everyone!
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About the Boxworks tenants:
There has been a lot of new companies move in since our last newsletter so there are just a few Boxworks containers left, if you'd like to find out more about this custom designed workspace, take a look at the brochure.
Perform Green are delighted to be new tenants of Boxworks No.3: they see a great synergy between the innovative approach they have to business and the innovative office space that Boxworks provides.
Perform Green are a strategy, innovation and productivity company. Their focus is on 'enabling competitive advantage for our clients… achieving better outcomes with less resource.' They help businesses, cities and governments tackle their toughest challenges. Perform Green also have a rapid innovation business: HackMyBusiness which delivers high energy, short interventions to make rapid, tangible improvements in a business. HackMyBusiness works with start-ups, growing businesses and large public, private and 3rd-sector organisations.
“The timing of our move into Boxworks aligns nicely to an increasing presence in Bristol for Perform Green at what is a very exciting time for both for Bristol and for us as a business. We are delighted to be able to offer employment opportunities in Bristol as we grow our team and are looking forward to meeting lots of new and old friends here … so please do call in for a chat!”
Barney Smith, MD of Perform Green
TravelLocal is all about bespoke travel - with a difference.
We help you to create holidays your way, with carefully selected local experts in your destination. Since 2012 we have scoured the globe to find these expert companies - entrepreneurs and innovators from Argentina to Zanzibar and anywhere in between. They know where you’re going better than anyone. These experts craft unforgettable trips, unique to you, combining your ideas with their local knowledge and contacts, to bring the world to life. So you get a better, more authentic holiday experience and they get a fairer deal. And for peace of mind, your booking is 100% protected financially, because we’re members of ABTA.
The TravelLocal platform is designed to be the safest, easiest way for customers around the world to book with local tour operators in their destination. Travelers can create and book their trip in 4 easy steps:
1. Browse - look through the destination pages on the TravelLocal platform for inspiration.
2. Engage - submit an enquiry form on the TravelLocal platform and begin planning with the local expert.
3. Refine - use the messaging system to refine the trip until it's perfect.
4. Book - confirm and pay for the trip safely online, with all payments bonded by ABTA.
They chose Boxworks as a cost effective way to locate themselves in central Bristol, which enables them to recruit from the great talent pool of Bristol and Bath.
IBI Group
IBI Group is a team of experienced architects, engineers, planners, designers, and technology professionals. We combine worldwide consulting expertise with local knowledge to provide intelligent solutions, whilst enhancing sustainability and smart growth.
Intelligence
IBI Group is a leader in the application of technology and information, providing leading-edge systems consulting and software development tailored to the needs of the client, from small-scale local control rooms and individual buildings, to large-scale city-wide centralised systems.
Buildings
At the building scale, IBI Group is committed to finely detailed architectural design that produces buildings of lasting quality and value for the owner, the users, the community, and the environment. We are specialists in the fields of healthcare, education, science and mixed-use developments.
Infrastructure
At the broader urban scale, IBI Group offers a full range of services related to the movement of people and goods within and between facilities, neighbourhoods, and cities. Further, the practice provides placemaking design solutions for the complex needs of communities, targeting location-efficient, transit-supportive, compact land planning schemes that are both responsive to current citizen needs and minimise the use of resources.
Other UK offices in Cardiff, London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Rochdale, Glasgow, Brighton, Newark, Dublin … and worldwide.
The mixture of a few key components made Boxworks the perfect choice for new work space in Bristol,
· An agile and forward looking work environment
· A community of the likeminded people
· The scale and location of the unit are ideal
· The flexible nature of the tenancy lease made the investment decision easy
Carbon Law Partners is a commercial law firm with a difference. It’s a way for fast-growing, enterprising and disruptive businesses to call on expert legal advice. Our clients include high–tech, high growth businesses and FAST100 companies. Our Partners are practical, entrepreneurial types who won’t waste your time and will find the best way forward for you and your team. Carbon has Partners in London, Cardiff, Bristol and Reading specialising in everything that growing businesses need:
- Contracts and commercial agreements
- Corporate law and governance
- Company secretarial
- Disputes
- Employment and HR
- Intellectual Property
- Restructuring and insolvency
Neville Catton is our Head of Location. He says “We were delighted to find Boxworks had space for us. It’s perfect: we can be part of the buzzy, enterprise culture at the Engine Shed and still have quiet, heads down space when we need to think. Even better, we can take another unit when we’ve outgrown this one. Pop down to Unit 2 and see us – we’ll put the kettle on!”
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We want to make this email as useful as possible so welcome your comments and items for inclusion in next month’s email. Send submissions to Rhian by 20 June 2016. |
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