Written by Helping deep tech founders accelerate their growth with training opportunities, 1:1 mentoring, networking with business, investors and other entrepreneurs.
In her own words
I’ve recently joined the Deep Tech Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick after a varied career in industry, Social Enterprise and Higher Education. I started at Warwick in 2019 as part of a project called MICRA, which was a collaboration between the eight Midlands Innovation universities’ technology transfer offices. The aim of the project was to work together to support the great technologies and ideas coming out of the universities to get to market and make a difference. We did this through a programme of training, business support, events and getting their stories out to the wider world and to potential investors in particular.
Joanna Bates
Deep Tech Innovation Centre, Manager
Before this, I spent a large part of my career working for GEC Plessey telecommunications. Some of the highlights from this time include working with BT labs to forecast how people would use networks in the future, and what that would mean for bandwidth demands and also working out how companies could charge for things like phone calls, when suddenly they could get free calls over the internet.
Part of the reason I was so keen to join MICRA was to get the opportunity to be working with people who were defining the next generation of technologies again; people with big ideas and plenty of enthusiasm. I see the Deep Tech Incubator programme, offering a wider community of start-up companies, a similarly supportive ecosystem.
The Deep Tech incubator has been running for just over a year, and we have big ambitions to grow. Around half of our cohort have been associated with the University as students or recent graduates, with ideas that they want to try to commercialise, but little commercial experience. Others have included people who have a ‘day job’ but want to explore their ideas with a view to setting out on their own. It’s a really mixed group and because of this, they offer different perspectives on the ideas being developed by the other members of the group.
The programme started in the pandemic, so has been entirely online to date. We want to get more face to face activities with the next group, but maintain a good mix of online support so that it is accessible to people who can’t always take time out during the working week.
We’re looking for founders at any stage of the development process from ideas to prototypes, through to those ready for investment. Deep Tech can cover a range of technologies, including AI, Machine learning, advanced materials, biotechnology, and can be found in almost every sector.
Application for Cohort C are now open!
To find out more, to book a discovery call, or to apply for business support click here: https://warwickinnovationdistrict.com/deep-tech-innovation-centre/
Joanna Bates | DTIC Manager