Most of the world’s important innovations have come from a handful of cities. Deep tech start-ups require an enormous amount of external support from the city post-discovery. This could include access to R&D space and state of the art equipment, legal and sector-specific business support and venture capital that is ready to back ambitious, important technologies for the long term. We think Bristol is starting to show all these ingredients.
With everyone across the city working together, it’s uniquely positioned to become a global player in deep tech over the next ten years.
This is why we founded Science Creates: a deep tech ecosystem, supported and backed by successful entrepreneurs, working with the city and our partners to make this vision a reality. In partnership with the University of Bristol, we aim to provide better healthcare, a cleaner environment, and an improved quality of life for everyone; achieved by supporting scientists to take discoveries off the shelf and into the real world.
We are driven to make this happen because we cannot be complacent in finding, developing and delivering key technologies that the world still needs.
Our story started in 2017 when we opened our first incubator in St Phillips, close to Bristol Temple Meads train station. With rapid growth in the deep tech sector, by 2019 it was full, and our members were asking for more lab space. The increased demand highlighted the need to expand our structured support and start a venture capital fund, aiming to improve access to investment for Bristol’s deep tech sector. Science Creates is the resulting ecosystem that encompasses our incubators, network and funding.
We are the scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors, and we understand what it takes to harness the power of Bristol’s unique position and potential.
MEMBER CASE STUDY -ANAPHITE
“We had a patent, but ultimately we were just an idea, and a bit of passion. Although those are the required initial conditions or any great venture, SC provided the stepping stone to de-risk the first jump into commercialisation.
“We have been in the Science Creates incubator since mid 2018. The lab space has allowed us to develop our technology rapidly and the network through SC has been crucial to raising early investment.”
“At Anaphite, we really care about moving the world to sustainable energy to stop it being devastated by climate change. We want to be part of this fight by making as many batteries as possible as good as possible, with our scalable and inexpensive chemical processes.
“Science Creates’ mission aligns with ours. We want Bristol to become the UK’s hub for deep tech innovation and we want to be one of the posterchild companies to help the effort as we grow. Science Creates want to provide a platform for companies to come together and work on solving the world’s existential problems, such as climate change.
FROM DISCOVERIES TO INVENTIONS.
A NOTE FROM SCIENCE CREATES FOUNDER, DR HARRY DESTECROIX.
Towards the end of 2020 we announced the launch of Science Creates; the new ecosystem that will drive deep tech forwards in Bristol. It will provide the incubators, network and investment needed to allow the sector to expand on the rapid growth of the last five years through three clear channels:
1. Science Creates Incubators
Our first incubator continues to thrive and we look forward to opening our second location in 2021. The new site in Old Market, Bristol will be a 30,000 sq ft scale-up space, which will provide larger laboratories, a dedicated event space and private offices. All members will have access to both sites, and support from our specialist in-house team who design, develop and run our incubators. We coordinate with our network to provide the mentoring, expertise and the resources needed for deep tech innovation and business development.
In this new phase, we will work in closer partnership with the University of Bristol, to grow the deep tech ecosystem within the city. The University of Bristol and Research England have invested in this expansion. University spin-outs form a major part of our membership base and the research pipeline that will become the next market-defining innovations. This partnership will continue to allow our members access to the University’s world-class instrumentation suites, analytical services and network of academics.
2. Science Creates Network
Our Network is made up of our member deep tech companies and our strong partnerships with local academic institutions, government, entrepreneurs, investors and strategic service providers.
Our in-house Incubators team will support our member deep tech companies at the various stages of their journey, by connecting their teams with expertise, insight and resources. We provide connections with mentors, who are experienced entrepreneurs and investors, and academic institutions who provide access to world class research, equipment and talent. We also work with strategic delivery partners to provide a host of services from legal and financial, to patent and grant writing support. The breadth and depth of these circles of expertise will continue to grow, creating a connected community of support.
3. Science Creates Ventures
With the growth of our ecosystem, we identified the need for investment to help companies scale up. This is why we launched Science Creates Ventures, to deliver mould-breaking investment funds. Science Creates Ventures EIS Fund 1, which launched in 2020, focuses on deep tech start-ups at pre-seed and seed levels. The fund will provide essential funding to the region and help ambitious companies in a variety of sectors including therapeutics, diagnostics, advanced materials, hardware and software.
Run exclusively by proven founders who combine deep technical knowledge with extensive commercialisation expertise. Science Creates Ventures will invest in technologies that have the potential to improve healthcare, quality of life, and the environment around us.
Science Creates Outreach
Underpinning all of our work is our outreach programme and to date, we have had 1,500 schoolchildren attend these workshops. We create a unique learning environment with immersive tours, hands-on workshops and interactive lessons with scientists. This will expand with a dedicated outreach lab space at our new incubator, which means that once the building is full, we will still have a space to welcome local learners.
