From nurturing ambitious science start-ups to working with global technology transformation specialists Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Bruntwood SciTech’s unique innovation services offering is supporting science and tech ecosystems to thrive across the North and beyond.
During a trip to Leeds and Manchester to take a look around Bruntwood SciTech’s campuses, which was set up as a joint venture partnership between Bruntwood and Legal & General in 2018, we sat down with its head of innovation services, Deb Hetherington.
Well-known as an established figure on the tech scene, Hetherington shared how Bruntwood SciTech is curating interconnected ecosystems both in the North of England and throughout the UK.
“What makes a successful innovation ecosystem? First and foremost, it’s the startups, obviously. But innovative start-ups and scaling companies should never make up more than about 65% of a tech and digital ecosystem. The remaining percentage should be ecosystem supporters like funders, IP specialists, legal providers, talent providers and more established businesses,” Hetherington told Prolific North.
“The ecosystem isn’t simply large numbers of start-ups, it’s more than that and it needs to be more than that,” she explained. “That whole spectrum of business growth support, in order to create economic and social growth and supercharge innovation, is just integral.”
