A pilot project to help small fabless chip start-ups compete on global markets is starting in the South West this month.
The £140,000 project is backed by the UK Trade and Investment organisation, working with the SETsquared incubator collaboration of the universities of Bristol, Bath, Surrey and Southampton, the SiliconSouthWest networking group and consultancy Pera.
It is looking at the UKTI offering, identifying gaps and then working directly with five early stage chip start-ups in September, said Greville Commins, head of the project and SETsquared’s ‘entrepreneur in residence’. He is aiming to work more with companies such as fledgling FPGA company Silicon Basis, than established start-ups such as processor designer XMOS.
“We will pick five or six target companies and run a trial to offer an improved version of existing services and new services,” he said. “But this is just the start to set up a project for all start-ups in the region and it may go nationwide.”
The project will survey larger companies to find out what they would have wanted to help them with global sales and marketing. “There are over 75 technology companies in the SouthWest so it will be easy to find ten to 12 to survey,” said Commins. “Before we know what it is the companies need we don’t know how many we can help, but one thing I guess will be along the lines of training or hooking up with mentors and experienced executives and using the UKTI’s Global Connect network.”
Other organisations such as SETsquared and Mentor Graphics’ Cre8ventures already have schemes to connect start-ups with experienced executives and funding. “There isn’t competition with Cre8ventures as we focus on training and development and coaching,” said Commins.