SETsquared Partnership Showcase 2008 shows UK technology innovation thriving
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Twenty technology companies in IT, biotechnology, engineering and electronics exhibited their innovation at the fifth annual SETsquared Partnership Showcase 2008. The event, aimed at raising investment for early stage companies, was recently held in London and attracted an audience of 120 venture capitalists, angel investors and high net worth individuals. Companies that have participated in the past four years have raised £85 million investment. Six made formal presentations at this year’s event.
The event was run by the SETsquared Partnership, which supports early-stage businesses through the resources of the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey.
Guest speaker Steve Purdham, founder and ex-CEO of SurfControl and CEO and Founder Investor of We7, emphasised the importance of passion, focus and strategic marketing in new businesses. He pointed out that even great technologies are destined for failure without these qualities. He described the challenges faced in taking SurfControl to an international market and a successful IPO.
SoftwareMining explained how its technology delivers a cost-effective route to converting obsolete COBOL computer code for today’s IT systems. Billions of lines of the old code are found in enterprise-wide computer systems, many Fortune 500 companies and government bodies.
Xintronix explained why its semiconductor chip technology will make computer USB connections run at 5 Gigabits per second, more than 10X faster than they do today. There are just a handful of designers around the world with the expertise to design integrated circuits that can operate at these speeds and the company claims to have attracted many of them. Xintronix added that its technology will provide the lowest cost and lowest power consumption for devices addressing this multi-billion unit market.
HeliSwirl described how its patented ‘Slugbuster’ helical pipe has been endorsed by the oil industry as a way of boosting production in sub-sea oil and gas extraction, where it delivers cost savings and environmental improvements.
Seeking investment for the online ‘Journal of Unlikely Science’, Null Hypothesis revealed how its website, recently described as ‘the Private Eye of the science community’ has become one of the top five science portals on the internet through adding humour and originality to authoritative content.
Capsant explained why its technology for creating human ‘micro-organs’ derived from stem cells, developed in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry, will revolutionise drug testing in a multi-billion dollar market.
Finally, Gnodal promised an order-of-magnitude improvement in high-speed network performance for data centres.
Investors were clearly impressed with much of what they saw and heard.
Peter Davies, managing director of YFM Group, said, “SETsquared does a fantastic job in preparing early stage businesses. We’ve already invested in five of them and, after today’s presentations, we’re looking seriously at another one.”
Abdul Guefor, Managing Director EMEA for Intel Capital, typified the reaction of potential investors saying, “These were very good quality presentations. Four of the companies that presented are relevant to our investment strategy and we will be following up with two of them immediately.”
Professor Philip Nelson, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton, hosted the event. He pointed out that 6,500 researchers support the SETsquared Programme, accounting for 8% of the UK’s academic research budget.
Media Enquiries
Peter La, Press Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689191, or Email mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk
