The SETsquared Partnership, usually known simply as SETsquared, is a

business incubation Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture ca ...

network run by five universities in

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

. SETsquared stands for Southern England Technology Triangle. The partnership was formed in 2002, between the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

, the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

and the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institu ...

. The

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

joined the partnership in 2011. In addition to hosting and supporting

startup companies A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses t ...

, SETsquared promotes university-to-business

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

and guides students into

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

. It has been mainly financed by the

Higher Education Funding Council for England The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engl ...

's Higher Education Innovation Fund and by membership fees for businesses. In 2015, it was ranked as the top university-based business incubator in the world by UBI Global, as well as being ranked by UBI Global as the top one in Europe for the third year running. By 2016, the network had assisted over 1,000 startups.

Centres

At Bath, SETsquared are based in the University of Bath Innovation Centre in Carpenter House. Bristol's centre, launched in 2003, was located adjacent to the university's Department of Computer Science. In 2013, the centre moved into the Engine Shed business incubator, housed in

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

's building at

Bristol Temple Meads railway station Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

, within Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. An Engine Shed 2 is planned. The Exeter centre is based at the University of Exeter Innovation Centre and, since 2015, also at the Exeter Science Park. Southampton's centre is at the Southampton Science Park. In Surrey, SETsquared is based in the Surrey Technology Centre within Surrey Research Park,

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. In December 2014, SETsquared opened another centre, in the Basing View business park in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, Hampshire, assisted by a grant of £100,000 from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

References

External links

{{University associations and groupings in the United Kingdom Business education in the United Kingdom Business incubators of the United Kingdom College and university associations and consortia in the United Kingdom University of Bath University of Bristol University of Exeter University of Southampton University of Surrey 2002 establishments in England Organizations established in 2002