Start-ups need "university-led clusters not garages" to drive innovation

London is a "supercluster" of world-class universities, tech-savvy consumers, start-ups, finance and culture.

It is time to "forget the start-up garage myth" and look to "superclusters" like London, two Imperial scholars write for the World Economic Forum.

David Gann, Vice President (Innovation), and Mark Dodgson, a visiting professor at Imperial College Business School, argue that “one of the most powerful myths surrounding technology entrepreneurs is that of their journeys beginning in a humble garage.” In fact, “It is clusters that bring together start-ups, established corporates, specialist and aligned businesses, and, very importantly, research-intensive universities.”

“Time and again it is access to the brains, equipment and collaborative environment of research universities that spurs on great innovations and high-growth companies. This is seen in most of the high-growth vibrant technology clusters around the world,” they write.

London supercluster

This effect “is especially apparent in London. Such is the intensity of world-class universities, tech-savvy consumers, start-ups, availability of finance and culture, that London can more fairly be described as a ‘supercluster’, or cluster of clusters. These intense concentrations of innovation in and around universities are forging ahead in artificial intelligence, fintech, medtech, life sciences, design and fashion. Whatever the consequences for Britain post-Brexit, London is likely to continue to be a magnet for entrepreneurs.” 

Professors Gann and Dodgson draw attention to London’s artificial intelligence cluster: “In AI, bright young entrepreneurs such as Rob Bishop and Zehan Wang, who met as students at Imperial College London, found the community, mentorship and resources that connect academia and business. Their machine learning visual processing firm Magic Pony was recently sold to Twitter for $150 million. Bishop and Wang plan to stay in London to help develop Twitter’s global AI R&D centre. Their success came soon after Microsoft bought another London AI spinout, Swiftkey, for $250 million.” 

University incubators, like that which Imperial is planning to expand in White City, are increasingly crucial to clusters. They write that: “Universities, historically the quiet heart of clusters, are playing a more active and assertive role. Harvard’s innovation lab has helped more than 75 companies get off the ground since 2011. Imperial Incubator has seen scores of spin-outs connected to Imperial College agglomerate and grow on campus. In less than a decade – from the basement rather than a garage of an academic building – Imperial Incubator firms have attracted more than $1 billion in investment.”

The full article can be read at the World Economic Forum.