“Powerhouse partnership” sets out to boost UK business expansion

The organisations – ITS (UK) member Transport Systems Catapult, innogy Innovation Hub and Telefónica are partnering in what they call a world class accelerator programme aimed at growing innovative UK businesses.

The London-based “Scale-Up Hub” will focus on growing small and medium-sized businesses in areas such as future energy, urban solutions, customer experience and connected technologies. The three say it represents a significant international investment in the UK’s “rich ecosystem of technology and digital innovation” which they hope will create jobs and growth through the development of new market leaders in emerging technologies.

The businesses initially joining the Scale-up programme are developing products that include alternative personal transport in cities, a digital solution providing rapid legal advice for businesses, solutions that make existing dumb buildings smart and software that understands human behaviour across cities.

innogy Innovation Hub provides funding, mentoring and a co-creation platform for the technologies and businesses that have the potential to redefine the energy market of the future. With teams in London, Silicon Valley, Berlin and Tel Aviv, it has supported over 80 companies and created a portfolio valued at €150 million.

The programme will also feature collaboration with the Energy Systems Catapult and Future Cities Catapult in order to take full advantage of Innovate UK’s Catapult Network and provide access to a wide-ranging innovation ecosystem to help develop international and domestic business opportunities.