Entrepreneurs-in-residence apppointed by BIS
AN expert on business start ups and an academic specialising in knowledge transfer will be unveiled at the International Festival for Business as the government’s first entrepreneurs-in-residence.
Prof Timothy Dafford from the University of Birmingham and Simon Devonshire will be introduced by skills and enterprise minister Matthew Hancock at the Federation of Small Business summit in Liverpool.
The pair will work in Whitehall at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for the next year, focusing on life sciences and helping small businesses grow.
At the summit Mr Hancock will also outline Government’s wider commitment to supporting British small business. He will explain that the new GREATbusiness website will be a single portal for small firms to find the support schemes that match their needs with the help of a diagnostic tool and what Government is doing through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill to help businesses start up and scale up.
Prof Dafforn, director of Knowledge Transfer, Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, will work with BIS on the new industry of synthetic biology, which is believed to have huge potential for the life sciences and energy sectors.
Mr Devonshire will be the new ‘scale-up’ entrepreneur, advising BIS on how to help small businesses achieve their potential. He is director of Wayra Europe, which helps new digital start-ups.
He has also co-founded six start-ups, three of which now have multi-million pound revenues. He is also a co-founder of The One Foundation, which through its product One Water has donated over £10 million to funding water wells across Africa.
Matthew Hancock said: “Both Simon and Timothy bring a range of experience and knowledge of the needs of small businesses. It is that expertise that we are bringing into the Department to make sure that this country is the best place for a business to start up, scale up and thrive.
“Small businesses, be they in specific industries like life sciences or established at a kitchen table, are the foundation of our economy and create sustainable growth and much needed jobs.”
Prof Dafforn said: “I am very excited about being entrepreneur-in-residence for synthetic biology. It comes at a particularly interesting time in the development of synthetic biology which has the possibility to solve a number of challenges that face the world. I hope that over the next year I can help catalyse these developments.”
Simon Devonshire added: “The UK is right at the heart of the global digital economy, with more start-ups, more engaged investors and a more active ecosystem than anywhere else in Europe.
“I am looking forward to working with the UK Government to put the policies in place that reinforce the UK as a powerhouse of entrepreneurship and to drive further growth.”
