BioAccelerate Back for its Second Year
On Thursday 2 May 2019, the latest BioAccelerate cohort assembled at the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus (AberInnovation) to begin an 8-week business accelerator programme. Following an extensive selection process, ten ambitious innovators were invited to join BioAccelerate’s 2019 cohort.
Now in its second year, BioAccelerate is a business accelerator helping to commercialise innovation in the biosciences, healthcare, agri-tech and food and drink sectors. The programme will combine interactive workshops with tailored mentoring, equipping each participant with the knowledge and skills to take their innovative ideas forward.
Provided they make it to the end of the programme, participants will get the opportunity to showcase the progress made on their ideas by pitching to a panel of industry experts and business leaders. Specific outcomes to be developed during the course of BioAccelerate 2019 include a business model canvas, financial projections, a defined market opportunity, and a streamlined pitch deck.
Led primarily by investment readiness specialists Nurture Ventures, workshops will also feature successful entrepreneurs sharing their stories with the group, as well as presentations from a range of organisations and sponsors, including Appleyard Lees, Greaves Brewster, ABER Instruments and Menter a Busnes. Topics will include investment finance, R&D tax credits, intellectual property law, and defining a value proposition.
Ben Jones, Marketing and Partnerships Manager at the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus, said: “We’re delighted to be able to run this programme again this year. The feedback we received for last year’s programme was overwhelmingly positive and the fact that several individuals from that cohort are now enjoying considerable successes is testament to the value of this accelerator programme. We very much want AberInnovation to be seen as a thriving hub for entrepreneurship and startups and programmes such as BioAccelerate are integral to realising that vision.”
The Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus aims to help companies at all stages of development in Wales and beyond to realise their ambition and to grow, prosper and drive economic growth in the food and drink, biotechnology and agri-tech sectors.
Bill Poll, Associate Director at BBSRC, said: “As one of the partners investing in the campus, BBSRC are excited to see how AberInnovation is driving the development of a vibrant and thriving innovation community, enabling entrepreneurs and businesses to collaborate with researchers, access specialist facilities and benefit from support networks and programmes such as BioAccelerate”.
The ambitious £40.5m development is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, through the Welsh Government; the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (part of UKRI); and by Aberystwyth University.
