Tech WM, the not-for-profit behind Birmingham Tech Week, is partnering with Aston University to create a scale-up programme.
The project will help local tech startups and spin-outs become international scale-ups.
The partnership emerged following behind-the-scenes discussions at the Birmingham Tech Week festival, which took place between 16-20 October.
The new programme will help students, entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses access world-class support, investment opportunities and local tech talent.
It will be based in the recently announced Tech Hub based at the Bruntwood SciTech facility ‘iCentrum’, as part of TechWM’s £1m investment into the West Midlands tech sector.
The new partnership will form part of the recently announced Birmingham Innovation Quarter (BIQ), a triple helix partnership between Aston University, Birmingham City Council and Bruntwood SciTech.
TechWM CEO Yiannis Maos (left) said: “As Europe’s youngest and most diverse major city, Birmingham possesses a competitive advantage like no other. That’s why I’m delighted we are partnering with Aston University, an institution truly representative of the city’s demographic, to harness this talent and create a new and exciting breed of tech scale-ups.
“As partners, we will work hard to ensure the programme is inclusive and accessible to all founders. We must harness the creativity of the city’s diverse talent to create unique and innovative tech-enabled businesses.”
Comprising tech mentors, industrial fellows, digital consultancy, workshops and events, the programme will link emerging businesses with support within the Birmingham Innovation Quarter and across the regional ecosystem.
Aston University, Professor Aleks Subic, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive (right) said start-ups are easy, but scale-ups were hard.
“To grow our economy, we must focus on helping high potential start-ups and SMEs to grow and access global value chains. Our partnership with TechWM aims to realise our bold vision within a new technological revolution, by creating a tech scale-up programme to supercharge our region’s economy, he said.
“Through this partnership we will develop scale-ups to tackle some of the world’s biggest and most critical challenges. The programme will catalyse start-up growth and digital transformation and create socioeconomic impact across our region.”
The programme will launch in February 2024 and support 100 businesses through its first cohort.
