BioAccelerate 2018 Launched at BioWales
BioAccelerate, Wales’ first business accelerator focused on commercialising bioscience and healthcare innovations, is seeking its first cohort of twelve early-stage innovators.
Formally launched at BioWales 2018 at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, the BioAccelerate programme’s first workshop will take place 19th April 2018 and is a joint initiative between the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus and Nurture Ventures. The 12-week programme will be an intensive mixture of workshops and hands-on mentoring with support from the programme’s sponsors enabling BioAccelerate to be offered free of charge to selected participants.
BioAccelerate is a hands-on business accelerator helping to commercialise innovation in the bioscience and healthcare sectors across Mid and West Wales. The programme will help participants develop their innovations into market-ready propositions and will culminate in giving them an opportunity to pitch for investment to a panel of industry experts. Participants who complete the BioAccelerate programme can expect to develop their own business model canvass, financial projections, a defined market opportunity, a prospective company valuation and a pitch deck.
The programme seeks to recruit up to twelve innovators in its first cohort. Expressions of interest are invited as of last week and will help the recruitment panel to select the companies with the potential for the highest commercial and social impact.
Dr. Rhian Hayward MBE, Chief Executive Officer of Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus said: “I am delighted that we can offer investor-readiness support to early stage companies and entrepreneurs. Our business community in Mid Wales is growing rapidly and the Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus is here is develop networks and connections through BioAccelerate and other initiatives towards a larger cluster.”
The programme will be structured to combine workshops with tailored mentoring, covering topics such as pricing, intellectual property and company valuation methods. With delivery led by Nurture Ventures, the tailored support aims equip the selected participants with an investment ready value proposition for their innovation in time for the pitch day, where participants will have the opportunity to complete for seed money and showcase their progress over the 12-week scheme.
Jeff Bartlett, founder and director of Nurture Ventures Limited, said: “Across Wales we’re seeing a growing belief in our indigenous innovators. This exciting entrepreneurial mindset is being aided by a variety of public and private support helping to bring business ideas to market and create jobs and social impact. We’ve put together an intensive 12 week, hands-on programme culminating in a pitch day allowing us to fast track the commercialisation of breakthrough ideas and create some world class Wales-based businesses.”
Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus aims to help companies at all stages of development in Mid Wales and beyond to realise their ambition and to grow, prosper and drive economic growth in the food and drink, bio-processing and biotechnology sectors. The European Regional Development Fund, through the Welsh Government; by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); and by Aberystwyth University, funds the ambitious £40.5m Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus development.
