UK business incubator named number one in Europe

The ranking, published today by the University Business Incubator (UBI) Index, places SETsquared as one of the world’s leading three incubators, ahead of SCUT Science Park at South China University of Technology and just behind number one, The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University Houston.

Sean Fielding, Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer said: “High tech businesses will have the biggest impact on the strength of our future economy. Exeter’s Innovation centre has developed a pipeline of innovative enterprise projects and helped over 150 high growth businesses.  We are delighted to be part of the SETsquared network and thrilled that together we have topped the European rankings and are ranked second in the world. This is great news, not only for the higher education sector but for the UK as a whole”

Dhruv Bhatli, Co-founder and Director of Research at UBI Index said: “SETsquared did really well on our Global Benchmark and beat numerous business incubators based at top universities. They are one of the best incubation places in the world and certainly the best in Europe, as evidenced from their performance on our global benchmark.

“It is an outstanding business incubator that provides exceptional quality to its client companies and produces growth companies and high economic impact.”

SETsquared, which specialises in accelerating technology businesses, says its position reflects the impressive economic value of the client companies it has helped build over the last 11 years. Since its inception it has worked with more than 1,000 high-tech start-ups that have raised over £1bn in investment.

SETsquared success stories include companies that have developed swine flu detection kits, microchips that speed up connection to the internet, and security systems that protect against terrorism without impeding world trade.

SETsquared Innovation Director Simon Bond said: "I’m delighted by the recognition in this year’s UBI Index – it’s an honour and validates our focus and commitment to entrepreneurs and the businesses that they create.

“The high ranking also comes with responsibility – the UBI Index highlights that Europe’s university business incubators have to work more effectively in order to compete on the world stage. SETsquared must now reach out to like-minded organisations to form partnerships and collaborations that add value for our entrepreneurs and client businesses.

UBI Index is the first global index to benchmark performance and best practices of University Business Incubators. Around 800 incubators in 60 countries were involved in the 2014 survey.