UK, 15th April 2015 – SETsquared has shown its support to start-ups and innovation businesses in Europe at an event held at the United Nations in Geneva yesterday (Tuesday 14 April) by offering a free place to one of the region’s leading start-ups on its acclaimed Entrepreneurship Training programme.

Simon Bond, Innovation Director at SETsquared, the university business incubator, which is ranked best in Europe and number two in the world, joined the jury panel at UNECE’s (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) first event for start-ups at Geneva’s Palais des Nations.

The event aimed to showcase how innovative entrepreneurial talent can contribute to address today’s social and environmental challenges, through new ground-breaking ideas that can become successful and sustainable businesses.

Following a call for ideas launched by UNECE, six finalists from Spain, Israel, Italy, Armenia and Moldova attended the event to pitch in front of a jury comprised of industry experts and hear from the panellists.

One of the leading finalists from the day has been offered a free place to come to the UK and take part in SETsquared’s acclaimed Entrepreneurship Training Programme. The winning start-up, AEInnova, a spin-out from Spain’s Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, has a compelling microelectronics solution for energy harvesting that turns industrial waste heat into electric power.

Simon Bond said: “It’s been an absolute honour to represent SETsquared at the UNECE and to be able to offer a place on our Entrepreneurship Training Programme. SETsquared is proud to support start-ups throughout Europe as well as those rooted in the UK, and the standard I’ve seen at UNECE’s event has been fantastic.

“The programme could be a springboard for AEInnova to realise the potential of its technology and raise the investment that will turn its plan into a substantial business. Furthermore, its energy harvesting solution requires sophisticated wireless electronics and advanced next generation mobile communication such as 5G, which SETsquared’s network is well-placed to assist with.

“But this is only the start, as we look forward to working with the UN this coming year to help support more European technology start-ups going forward.”

Places are available on SETsquared’s Entrepreneurship Training Programme. Visit http://www.setsquared.co.uk/start-support/entrepreneurship-training-programme for more information.

ENDS

Image: Simon Bond (centre), Innovation Director at SETsquared with the competitors and jury at the United Nations’ Start-up Showcase in Geneva

About SETsquared:
SETsquared is a long-standing partnership between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey which specialises in growing high-tech start-ups through its incubation programme and other business acceleration services. SETsquared provides mentoring, access to investors and corporate innovators and a wide range of industry experts through its network and training programmes.

Its business incubation programme is ranked by the University Business Incubator Index as the best in Europe and second in the world and over the last decade it has helped over 1,000 high-tech start-ups to develop and raise more than a £1bn of investment.

Independent research carried out by Warwick Economics estimates the economic impact of SETsquared member companies to be £3.8bn over this period, with the creation of 9,000 jobs and that these companies will go on to deliver a further £7.3bn of impact to the UK economy in the decade ahead.

For further information please contact:
For more information, images or interviews please contact: Laura Downton at Carswell Gould T: 023 80 238001 E: laura[at]carswellgould[dot]co.uk
Distributed on behalf of Carswell Gould by NeonDrum news distribution service (http://www.neondrum.com)