Mentor Graphics has set up a UK start-up support firm called Cre8Ventures in an effort to connect entrereneurs with prospective partners.
The move comes as Electronics Weekly refreshes its start-up map of the UK.
Mentor is attempting to assist UK start-ups by brokering contacts with potential allies, advisers and customers from its network.
“We see intensely creative clusters of electronics entrepreneurs in Bristol and Cambridge. The fabless semiconductor model is a popular one but fewer people seem to be doing IP,” commented Carson Bradbury, director for Cre8Ventures.
EW’s start-up map shows a healthy electronics start-up culture, with hotspots of activity around Cambridge, Bristol, Livingston, Manchester and Southampton. Around 130 firms are featured in the map, more than in any previous version of the map.
This growth has also been noted by Mentor Graphics, which in 2005 did eight times as much UK business with start-ups compared with 2003 in revenue terms.
“In addition to some of the better known electronics clusters Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast are starting to generate more entrepreneurial activity. I’ve noticed a broad range of interesting technology in some of these areas varying from organic electronics to consumer IP,” said Bradbury.
“Clustering works and more electronic engineering clusters are appearing across Britain and Ireland. There’s a lot more analogue/mixed-signal design going on in these clusters… Start-ups are coming to us particularly for analogue mixed signal design flows and next generation system verification technology,” continued Bradbury.
The EW start-up map also shows the variety of technology sectors, with particular strength in semiconductor IP and communications. An interactive version of the map is available on the EW website and contains unique information, including start-ups’ funding plans and an outline of the technology they are pursuing.
www.cre8ventures.com