PraxisUnico is delighted to be supporting the UK Science Park Association’s (UKSPA) annual conference in York this week (May 9th and 10th). Several PraxisUnico speakers will be addressing delegates as part of the ‘Innovation, Incubation and Science Parks’ stream.
Many KEC offices have responsibility for campus-based incubator and/or accelerators and our support for UKSPA is a reflection of this. Speaking at the conference is an opportunity to increase understanding of the KEC community outside our core audience and membership. Encouraging discussion between closely aligned parts of the innovation system is something that we are committed to and aspire to do more of as PraxisUnico and AURIL move into the next phase of supporting the UK’s KEC profession.
Last month, UKSPA was a partner in a BEIS-commissioned report led by NESTA on the UK’s incubator and accelerator environment. The report pointed to the important role that universities play as private investors in science parks, incubators and accelerators, creating enterprise ecosystems that benefit all types of businesses not just university spin-outs and start-ups. NESTA’s Jonathan Bone will be talking about the findings of the report on day two of the York conference, following Kathryn Walsh’s discussion of ‘Key Implications for University and Business Incubators’.
PraxisUnico-AURIL speakers at the UKSPA conference are:
Simon Bond, SETsquared, ‘Incubators and Accelerators’
Ian Carter, University of Sussex ‘University Incubator Models: Cost Centres or Profit Making Enterprises?’
Paul Fairburn, Coventry University, and Sue Sundstrom, University of Bristol ‘University-Business Collaboration: Mechanisms and Managing Expectations’
Tim Hammond, Durham University, ‘Innovation Ecosystems: Delivering Spin-out Success’
Kathryn Walsh, University of Loughborough ‘Key Implications for University and Business Innovators’