How does The Higgs Centre for Innovation support entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurial visions are becoming increasingly brave, daring and unapologetic, and there is a need for current science and technology development to meet the demands of the future. As a result, start-up companies are required to anticipate unprecedented challenges. These challenges are crucial for a successful business which must undergo change to develop and adapt to market demand.
The Inspirations Behind Higgs Centre Incubatees
We spoke to four entrepreneurial incubatees at the Higgs Centre for Innovation who discussed their individual journeys, inspirations and the challenges they’ve faced along the way.
Mark Mooney, a Senior Manufacturing and Application Specialist at Singular Photonics, believes his inspiration comes from the fact that they “can make a real difference to people’s lives with their technology,” which they’re proving consistently. By using SPAD (Single Photon Avalanche Diodes) technology, Singular are using camera sensors to detect single photons. The applications for this technology are focused on the medical sector, with plans to eventually roll out the service to GPs, ultimately, saving lives. They’ve already demonstrated the success of their processes through identification of healthy and cancerous lung cells.
Robocean’s CEO, Niall, has always been passionate about environmental causes, and has used his experience in engineering to explore applied technology alongside initiating positive environmental impact. A BBC News article sparked his interest, outlining how seagrass restoration undergoes relatively archaic methods. Robocean’s intention is to scale up these processes with newer technologies.
Aphelion Industries builds spacecraft armour to protect satellites and space stations against lethal, non-trackable threats like micro-debris. CEO James Snape believes the space sector promises expansion and access, reframing space as a fundamental resource which hedges against human-error; a pressure-release valve our species should master to support human progress. He explores how reality is motivated by art, or fiction – citing Scottish author Iain M.Banks’ future vision of post-scarcity (a future free from economic coercion) as an important factor motivating the entrepreneur. He asks, “when you don’t have material or resource stressors, what do you do?” – his background in psychology urging an interrogation of human nature when nature’s own impositions of scarcity are solved.
Thistle Rocketry is more of a mature start-up company, originally set up in response to a small launch problem, and David Robertson believes that their current inspiration comes from the potential for commercialisation. They’ve gone beyond the initial spark that is crucial in early-stage development and are looking to cement their place in the market by exploring future challenges, like getting the technology into satellites.
Their Respective Challenges
When you’re addressing challenges, which we’ve now highlighted as an inevitable part of entrepreneurial development, whether that’s challenges in subsea robotics, or micro debris, it is inevitable that future challenges develop from the original one – a sort of multiplier effect. This is unescapable within scientific development, which grows and expands based on new discoveries and potentialities.
Jamie feels that cash is one of the main struggles for Aphelion Industries, in particular, the art of making it last. This is particularly crucial for start-up companies, who are extremely busy with innovation development, and may require external support in funding. He believes in the importance of team coordination, and role delegation, which seeks to provide a stable, efficient working environment in which everyone has a part to play.
Top Tips for Entrepreneurs
What did our Higgs incubatees give as their top tips for entrepreneurs?
- Start early
- Get engaged and get stuck in where you can
- The 4 C’s – Community, Collaboration, Cooperation, Communication
- Zoom out and be proactive – think about things from an alternative angle and perspective
- Start thinking about lead times when you’re developing – this is especially important for hardware development
And perhaps, most importantly…
Stick at it!
Entrepreneurship demands much perseverance and dedication, and these are the companies that have first-hand experience of those exact highs and lows, coming out the other side well-equipped and with practical goals.
Euan Harvey, Business Development and Innovation Development Manager at the Higgs Centre, says that “there’s a lot of value in having all the companies together and being able to network, being able to have conversations, discuss their problems and to just talk things through with someone going through the same thing.”
Perhaps that is what’s truly key to an entrepreneurial vision – having the benefits of a community around you. The Higgs Centre harnesses this very community, built from companies who generate collaborative conversations, also serving as a reminder that the path of an entrepreneur is not solo. It thrives on conversations that lead companies on to that next stage. That next challenge.
To find out more about the journeys of these companies, have a listen to our two-part podcast, hosted by Euan. Our podcast is available on Podbean and Spotify.
