Challenges
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Innovation Ecosystems
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Local Economic growth
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Technology acceleration
Client
Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)
BetaDen North was a Community Renewal Fund programme to stimulate the sustainable economy in North Worcestershire. The initiative was funded through Worcestershire County Council, Wyre Forest District Council and was an initiative of the LEP under the BetaDen brand. The aim of the programme was to develop a cleantech ecosystem – a community of innovators and local businesses who were looking to reduce the region’s carbon footprint.
CLT designed and delivered four full-day workshops for regional businesses on a range of cleantech themes. We then ran an 8-week Cleantech Bootcamp accelerator for 9 sustainable innovations, with a showcase event at the end.
The accelerator covered both general business leadership and growth capability-building as well as cleantech sector specific planning.
CLT delivered the content, with the entrepreneurs on-site in Kidderminster for 2 days a week. Support consisted of mentoring, workshops, specialist coaches, market research support, speakers and peer-to-peer sessions. Each week covered a different commercialisation theme (customers and value proposition, route to market, sales, finance, IP, supply chain and manufacture, building a team). The aim was to progress each innovation as far as possible over the two months with mentors working closely with the companies to take the learnings from the group sessions and apply them to their own businesses, alongside individual strategic support and specialist coaching. Each company developed its own innovation commercialisation plan.
At the end of the Bootcamp, we ran a showcase pitch and demonstration event at which each of the cohort founders presented their innovations to a regional audience of around 40 businesses, local authority buyers, investors and stakeholders.
Some of the feedback from the companies and BetaDen / the LEP is below:
Shape Hummingbird Design, which is developing a way to harvest kinetic energy from road surfaces to be converted into electricity. “There was a pool of different mentors CLT had contacts with who were able to come and talk to us. Although the delivery team had planned sessions, they would change them if our needs as a group changed. It has helped us reinforce our own validation of the design”
– Commercial Director, Hummingbird Design
“The workshops, mentoring and overall support as well as the financial support and marketing support have been tremendous. The program has been well thought through and managed and has really accelerated our progress to be able to offer our new Grohanger to the market to generate revenue”.
– CEO, Grohanger
“The project has been a tremendous success and a great deal of credit has to go to CLT for their knowledge, experience and professionalism. I cannot speak highly enough of the efforts of Natalie and the CLT team in supporting us on this project. I would have no hesitation in recommending CLT’s services to others.”
– Luke Willets, Deputy CEO, Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership.
