An enterprise partnership between five universities in the South of England has been named the best in the world for the third time in a row.
SETsquared Partnership is a collaboration between Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey universities that supports technology-based businesses throughout their life-cycle and develops entrepreneurial thinking for students , academics and businesses.
The scheme was named the global number one university business incubator by research and advisory firm UBI Global at the World Incubation Summit in Qatar.
This year, the partnership was commended for demonstrating exceptional value for tech start-ups and the local ecosystem.
SETsquared has supported more than 4,000 UK high-tech start-ups since its inception, helping them raise more than £1.8billion of investment and creating £8.6billion of economic impact to date – a figure set to rise to nearly £27billion by 2030.
In the last year alone, 80 students, academics and entrepreneurs in Bristol have participated in SETsquared programmes, with supported companies raising £235million in investment between them.
The Partnership’s ranking follows the world’s most extensive benchmark study which analyses more than 1,500 incubators and accelerator programmes in 78 countries. SETsquared scored highly against all 21 key performance indicators.
Monika Radclyffe, centre director at SETsquared Bristol, said: “[This is] a fantastic achievement and one which reflects the incredible work done not just here in Bristol but across each of the five partner universities, whose teams work tirelessly to champion innovation.”
Simon Bond, innovation director at SETsquared, said: “This ranking is testament to the dedication of everyone in the SETsquared team and their commitment to the entrepreneurial talent and research and innovation capabilities of the UK.
"We hope this ranking demonstrates to entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-up businesses across Bristol that SETsquared has the experience and track-record to help them succeed and grow.”
Ali Amin, chief executive and co-founder of UBI Global, added: “The top lists of programmes were each recognised for outstanding performance in nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation, but SETsquared really stood out amongst its peers.
"We’d like to extend our congratulations to the whole team for these exceptional results, which really highlight the partnership’s fantastic contribution to business, innovation and the UK economy.”
The UBI Awards and Recognition Gala took place at the Museum of Islamic Art, which displays Islamic art from three continents spanning 1,400 years.
