Hillington Park
A recent evaluation of Hillington Park Innovation Centre's first five years of operation found that the centre had incubated 107 technology-based companies employing more than 1,000 people, contributing £5m to the Scottish economy.
Those figures are forecast to rise significantly by 2010, with a gross economic value to Scotland of £40m.
The centre's incubated companies, benefiting from top-quality business support and advice, are far less likely to fail (less than 15%) and far more likely to invest in research and development (R&D) with an average spend of £116,000.
The award-winning Hillington Park Innovation Centre - recognised as one of the world's top three fastest-growing business incubators - continues to expand and will provide incubation, business advice and support for a growing number of technology based businesses.
The key services offered by the Hillington Park Innovation Centre include:
- Modern, state-of-the-art accommodation, including a full range of business facilities, which aims to help enhance growth, creativity, customer satisfaction and market share both nationally and internationally.
- The Innovation Advisory Services team provide top-class advisory services to companies and entrepreneurs to help ensure their great ideas become successful businesses. Our clear-sighted emphasis on innovation involves providing the right level of advice and support to technology based companies within our centres and beyond.
The areas our Innovation Advisory Services team specialise in is looking at each individual companies:
- Product and Technology
- Market Opportunity
- Sales
- Legal and Intellectual Property
- Finance and Funding
- People and Management
- Access to a network of external advisors drawn from public and private sectors who offer relevant skills and contacts to companies within the Centre
- The Innovation Advisory Services team helps companies to identify their ongoing funding requirement and advise on preparing a complete funding package - including equity, debt and grants.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Scotland has a long history of innovation and entrepreneurial dynamism. Its industrial technology base has evolved to provide globally-recognised opportunities for the higher-value end of the electronics and enabling technology sectors.
As befits a country which has the highest concentration of universities in Europe, Scotland also enjoys continuing excellence in innovation and the commercialisation of research.
This is underpinned by a highly developed company support network and infrastructure, combined with an unmatched quality of life.
Commercial Strength
- Scotland is recognised as the number one entrepreneurial region in the UK with 54 venture backed companies per million of population (July 2006).
- Research has shown Scotland to be up to 30 per cent cheaper to set up and run an electronics-based facility than in other parts of the UK.
- Active technology transfer programmes link academia and industry, supported by a grant system that invests in high-value activities.
- Scotland accounts for 50 per cent of all optoelectronics graduates - and with only 10 per cent of the UK's population, attracts 34 per cent of the UK Government's optoelectronics research budget.
Academic Strength
- Scotland has the highest concentration of universities in Europe and is number three in the world on a per capita basis in the publication of learned papers.
- Scotland is renowned for the high quality of its education system. There are 20 Higher Education Institutions in Scotland including 14 universities. Scotland also has 45 colleges of further and higher education.
- Six Scottish universities received the exclusive 5 star rating by the Research Assessment Exercise for quality of research. The award acknowledges an international level of excellence.
- In 2003 Scottish higher-education institutes produced 5,122 engineering and technology graduates; 4,390 mathematics and computer science graduates and 1,665 physical sciences related (excluding combined studies) graduates.
Mobile and wireless technology is one of the fastest-growing and dynamic sectors in the world. With its reputation for innovation, Scotland is rapidly building a wealth of talent and expertise in this field.
Wireless Innovation is a key research and development project to scope the size and dynamics of the wireless industry in Scotland and help companies develop in this sector.
Wireless Innovation is Scotland's national initiative for wireless and mobile technologies is operated by Innovation Centres (Scotland) Ltd (ICS). Wireless Innovation's team of dedicated market experts help Scottish wireless and mobile developers understand market trends, technology challenges, and identify new routes to market.
MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE REGION
For a list of HPIC and industry events, visit www.innovationcentre.org/events
MOST IMPORTANT SERVICES
- Euro Office Basic Service
- Euro-Expo
- Consulting services
- Etc.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY
This support may include:
- Strategy - where a business or entrepreneur needs to formulate a firm strategy for the business, its products, services and markets
- Legal and Intellectual Property - where the company needs proper professional legal advice to protect its technology before it attacks markets, local and international
- Implementation - assessing what the business needs in terms of people and resources
- Mentoring - where specific advice can be tapped into by the entrepreneur
- Networking and contacts - crucial to the development of any business proposition, enabling entrepreneurs to meet the right people and make contacts which will help their business
- Diligence - helping new businesses to thoroughly examine their proposition, the team and the products to a level that is acceptable to investors.
AND
- Finance and Funding advice (debt, equity and grant funding)
- Market overview and market trend information.
LINKS TO MOST IMPORTANT WEBSITES
www.scottish-enterprise.com
www.mepc.co.uk