GrowthAccelerator: the Next Best Thing to Business Link

Until November 2011 there was an integrated business advisory service known as Business Link. It maintained a comprehensive website and a network of local business advisers who advised and assisted up to 10,000 businesses a week between them. Those services were generally of very high quality and were free at the point of use.  Funding for those services was provided by the regional development agencies. When those agencies closed in 2011 the local Business Link network closed with them. The Business Link website survived a little longer but is now absorbed into the gov.uk.

Whether or not the end of Business Link was good bad, there can be no doubt that the service is missed. In the United States the Small Business Administration provides a service that looks very much like that used to be provided by Business Link and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have maintain comprehensive business advice websites. In England there is a range of successor services such as the British Library's Business and IP Centre and its partners in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester. Newcastle and Sheffield (see "Enterprise and Libraries: a New National Network of Business & IP Support" 6 March 2013) and the mentorsme.co.uk (see "'Oh Me. Oh My. I hope the Little Mentor Comes By' - The Banks New Mentoring Network" 22 July 2011).

Possibly the service that comes closest to Business Link is the GrowthAccelerator which I learned about at a presentation after the The Sci-Tech Daresbury Business Breakfast Networking Event on the 22 Nov 2013. GrowthAccelerator describes itself as

"a unique service led by some of the country's most successful growth specialists where you’ll find new connections, new routes to investment and the new ideas and strategy you’ll need for your business to achieve its full potential."

It is a partnership  between Grant Thornton, PERA, Oxford Innovation and The Winning Pitch which claims to have helped over 10,000 businesses since its launch in 2012. It operates by identifying priorities for growth, developing a growth plan and providing coaches to help with the execution of the plan. It provides those services for a fixed fee.

I chatted with several of the presenters after the talk at Daresbury and mentioned the similarity to Business Link. I was not surprised to learn that several of them had been Business Link advisers.  Like Business Link the GrowthAccelerator signposts businesses to other services and opens doors. It holds clinics, seminars and other events on all sorts of topics such as accessing finance and marketing. Business owners who want to learn more can request a free consultation through the company's website.

If you want to discuss this article or any other related topic give me a call during business hours on 020 7404 5252 or fill out my contact form. You can also reach me on Facebook, G+, Linkedin, twitter and Xing, Merry Christmas.

Enterprise and Libraries: a New National Network of Business & IP Support

The Business and IP Centre of the British Library has offered advice and information to entrepreneurs and inventors in London and Home Counties since 2006. In addition to the publications and databases that would be expected of a library, the Centre offers business planning, intellectual property, market research and networking services which it delivers through clinics, seminars, workshops and on-line.   On-line services include the Centre's newsletter and the British Library UK Entrepreneur Network on Linkedin. Some of those services are offered by British Library staff and others by the Centre's partners.   

In my article "Local Enterprise Partnerships begin to take Shape" 21 Oct 2010 I wrote:

"One of the first casualties of the abolition of the RDAs are likely to be local and regional Business Link services. In an interview with Jason Hesse on the Real Business website, Mark Prisk, the Business Minister, announced:

'We’re going to wind down the Regional Development Agencies, and as part of those, we’ll be winding down the regional Business Link contracts.'  

These will be replaced by a state funded on-line service - presumably the existing Business Link website possibly under the Solutions for Business brand - and greater use of existing service providers such as chambers of commerce and local authorities. The proposal for a new business information service to be provided by thee British Library, NESTA, Newcastle City Council and Northumbria University is probably something like the model Mr. Prisk had in mind (see "Mark Prisk announces new business advisory service" on theReal Business website)."

The Business and IP Centre for Newcastle was subsequently launched and I blogged about it in "BIPC Newcastle"  on 21 Jan 2012.

In “Digital Opportunity A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth” Prof. Hargreaves recommended:

"9.     Small firm access to IP advice. The IPO should draw up plans to improve accessibility of the IP system to smaller companies who will benefit from it. This should involve access to lower cost providers of integrated IP legal and commercial advice."

The IPO drew up those plans in From ideas to growth: Helping SMEs get value from their intellectual property which I blogged in "IPO's Plan to support SME" on 31 May 2012.   One of the IPO's suggestions was "extending the model used at the Business and IP Centre in London to six regional patent libraries."

By a press release dated 19 Nov 2013 the British Library announced that it had signed an agreement with the Intellectual Property Office and six major UK city libraries  to establish a national network of services for small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country, modelled on the services offered by the British Library’s Business & IP Centre.  The six participating libraries are Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield City Libraries four of which host inventors groups that I have helped to set up.

On 11 Feb 2013 Penny Mordaunt MP sponsored a reception at Portcullis House to launch this network to be known as Enterprise and Libraries: A new national network of business & IP support.  The event included speeches from staff of the British Library, entrepreneurs who had used the Centre and representatives of local libraries. I was unable to attend the meeting but I am glad to say that I was represented by Jason McCartney, my Member of Parliament, and by Ian Wishart a patent agent who is also a director of Cobra Special Risks Ltd.

Over the last few years I have worked very closely with Chris Brown in Manchester, Ged Doonan and Stef Stephenson in Leeds, Ruth Grodner in Liverpool and Nicola Avella of Sheffield to support entrepreneurs and inventors in those cities.   Now that I am practising primarily from 4-5 Gray's Inn Square (see "Moving to London" NIPC website 5 March 2013) I hope to make a similar contribution to the Business and IP Centre in London.   If you want to want to discuss this article, call me on +44 020 7404 5252 or send me an an email through my contact page. You can also follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, twitter or Xing,

Son of Business Link: Cable announces new business mentoring network

A further indication of what's hoping to replace Business Link emerged yesterday when Business Secretary Vice Cable announced plans for a new single network of mentoring providers. According to the Department's press release, there will be a single online gateway to mentoring from the summer of 2011.

In his speech Cable said

“The best people to advise new entrepreneurs and existing businesses are those who have already started and run successful companies. Mentoring is a very effective way of promoting start-ups, higher productivity and growth amongst established businesses, so I am delighted to announce this new network."

According to Business Matters, mentors will be offered tax breaks for their trouble but they will received no cash as such.

Resources for Inventors in the East of England

This is the second of my regional surveys of resources for inventors.

The East of England covers the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. According to Wikipedia the region has a population of 5.39 million in a land area of 19,120 square kilometres. It is home to one of the world's greatest research universities. According to the Intellectual Property Office there were 1,844 patent applications from the region in 2009 placing it third behind South East England and London with 2,777 and 2,752 respectively. Its regional development agency is the East of England Development Agency. Three local enterprise partnership proposals have been accepted from the East of England, namely Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough, Hertfordshire and Kent Greater Essex and East Sussex.

Inventors Clubs

I am aware of only one inventor's club in the region. That is CHASE (the Cambridge High Tech Association of Small Enterprises) in Cambridge. The Association meets on the first and third Tuesdays of most months, holds an annual dinner and an occasional conference. Further information can be obtained from Jeff Veil on 01223 721499. I would have expected to find inventors clubs in Bedford, Chelmsford, Colchester, Hatfield, Ipswich, Luton, Norwich and Southend. If inventors in any of those cities want us to help them set up an inventors club they should call us on 01603 343030 or contact us through this form.

Clinics and Libraries

There are no PatLib libraries and hence no CIPA clinics in the East of England. However, each of the county and district council library authorities have good on-line and printed business information resources. If anybody from the East of England wants advice on any aspect of inventing he or she can contact our clinic using this form. We shall put him or her in touch with a local professional advisor.

Business Advice

The HQ of the local Business Link is at Zenith Court in Hatfield. There are local Business Link offices in each of the major towns and cities of the region. Advice and mentoring is also available from Keith McCallum who holds the Business Doctors franchise for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Funding

Eastern Capital Alliance is a local angel network. There are three community development finance institutions in the region:

• Foundation East in Bury St Edmunds; and
• NWES and WEETU in Norwich.

Professional Advisers

There are several well known firms of patent and trade mark attorneys as well as law firms that specialize in intellectual property in the region but we do not yet know any of them well enough to recommend to recommend to private inventors with limited budgets. We advise inventors to shop around and tell us what they find,

Further Information

We have a page on Inventors Resources in the East of England on the Inventors Club website which we shall expand and update as and when we can. We have an Inventors Club group on Linkedin which covers developments affecting inventors throughout the UK which you can join. You can of course also join the Inventors Club if you want. The Membership Rules are here. There is no subscription but we may charge for special services such as showcasing inventions and access to professional services. Anyone who wishes to contact us should call us on 01603 343030 or send us an email.