Scaleup programmes
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SETsquared Scale-Up Programme
Infrastructure
Impact for scaleups
600+
active SETsquared Innovation Platform users
£57m
GVA between 2018 - 2023
£7.5 : £1
ROI
£72m
collaborative R&D funding
62%
of participating scaleups collaborated with an academic from a SETsquared university
Key sectors
SETsquared is a university–business network comprising six UK universities – Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. Its Scale-Up support, endorsed by the ScaleUp Institute, has evolved into a series of sector-focused programmes that address common scaling challenges, including access to research collaboration, public funding and private investment. These programmes are accessed through the SETsquared Innovation Platform, which has over 600 active users, and support businesses operating across priority sectors such as clean growth, health innovation, sustainable transport, telecoms, cyber-security and emerging hydrogen and energy technologies. This sectoral focus ensures that SETsquared’s programmes remain closely aligned to national innovation and growth priorities.
The model retains the structure of the original Scale-Up Programme, offering three primary strands of support: general business development through activities such as innovation and impact ‘workouts’; support for developing collaborative R&D bids with academic partners; and investment-readiness assistance to enable access to private capital. This approach embeds the successful features of the Scale-Up Programme while continuing to adapt to national priorities and emerging innovation funding streams.
Complementing this sectoral approach, SETsquared has implemented measures to strengthen research commercialisation. Its Executives into Business (EIB) initiative placed experienced executives into spinout ventures, bringing essential commercial leadership into emerging businesses. Insights from EIB have been incorporated into Impact-IP, a follow-on programme focused on streamlining technology transfer, standardising legal and commercial frameworks and building commercial readiness among early-career researchers and Entrepreneurs in Residence—further accelerating the route to market for academic innovation.
Independent evaluation has shown that programme participants experience strong annual growth in turnover and employment. Companies involved in the programme have secured significant levels of private investment and collaborative R&D funding, with a substantial proportion engaging in academic partnerships with SETsquared institutions. Since its inception, the programme has delivered notable economic impact, including considerable Gross Value Added (GVA) contributions and strong returns on Connecting Capability Fund (CCF) investment, with projections indicating further substantial gains over the coming years. The current programme structure continues to be shaped by the outcomes of this evaluation and reflects the priorities identified through delivery.
