ABOUT

Sussex Innovation is a business incubation network for entrepreneurs, start-ups, growing companies and corporate and academic innovators, offering flexible, professional office space and a comprehensive range of in-house support services designed to assist during the vital early years of operation. 85% of ideas supported by Sussex Innovation develop into profitable, sustainable businesses.

Sussex Innovation is run on a commercial basis with all profits reinvested into encouraging entrepreneurship. The first centre at the University of Sussex opened in 1996, followed by Croydon in 2015 with a third site due to to open soon in Brighton city centre.

For twenty years, support at Sussex Innovation has been designed to help businesses grow quickly and sustainably. Flexible resources and practical advice are tailored to match the needs of all sizes of business.

Sussex Innovation currently hosts and supports more than 200 high-growth potential companies, spanning a range of sectors from the forefront of engineering and biomedical research to new media, design and IT application development.

Unlike other incubators or serviced office space, long-term relationships are encouraged, and counsel grows to match the growth and success of members. While many incubators will help to turn start-ups into sustainable businesses, Sussex Innovation aims to help the best of those businesses to scale and achieve high growth.

Services

Sussex Innovation helps businesses to realise their ambitions for rapid growth by supporting them through the growing pains that all businesses experience. With on-site support offered in all areas of business strategy, infrastructure and recruitment, support services are designed to help businesses maintain the momentum they had as a start-up.

Networks

Over 20 years of operation a trusted network of advisors, investors, academic, public and private partners has been established across the South East. Sussex Innovation facilitates new relationships with these networks for the benefit of all its members.

The organisation’s position as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University of Sussex, a world leading research institution, offers unparalleled access to a wide-ranging academic community.

Sussex Innovation maintains partnerships with a worldwide innovation network, including international innovation organisations, corporate clients and government support agencies, as well as successful entrepreneurs with vast experience to share.

Strategic Support

A dedicated in-house support team holds an extensive breadth of experience across a range of different industries. They can provide advice on strategies that cover the full range of businesses’ requirements, including finance and operations, sales and marketing, HR and infrastructure.

Intensive, accelerated growth support is also available, offering hands-on involvement and close team integration to help businesses flourish. Support fees are agreed in advance and based on quantifiable measures of success.

Strategic support offerings are built around:

• Raising ambition
• Developing business models
• Building management teams
• Customer / Market insight
• Investor relations
• Practical Support

Business support adapts to suit the needs and budget of the entrepreneur, offering an informal sounding board, strategic interventions and everything in between.

A willing in-house support team will get involved in everything from writing content to making sales calls, and a Catalyst team of mentored students and graduates provides a flexible and cost-effective resource on a project-by-project basis. The accounts and bookkeeping team offers help with fiscal matters, as well as advice on how to interpret and act upon financial information.

• Practical support offerings include:
• Admin, legal and tax processes
• Accounts and payroll processes
• Desk-based research
• Sales training
• PR and communications
• HR and operational support

Space

All three locations offer a dynamic and flexible space to facilitate the cross-fertilisation of ideas between companies. This entrepreneurial community helps young businesses to learn from established peers, and corporate innovators to share in the agile, creative culture of a start-up environment.

Office spaces (ranging from 145-1500 sq ft) are designed to be flexible to business and growth needs with inclusive rents, no long-term commitment and minimal paperwork. Professional meeting room, seminar room and boardroom facilities provide the infrastructure to impress potential partners and clients, allowing tenants to focus on what matters most – the business.

Virtual office and network membership options mean members can enjoy all the benefits of a fixed office, without the office. The Virtual membership package provides a great business address and hot-desking facilities, professionally managed business calls and mail, as well as access to all of Sussex Innovation’s support and networks. Collaborative space is designed to encourage the free exchange of ideas and insight between all member businesses.

Whichever location they are based at, all members get access to the whole package. Tenants can relocate between sites without switching bills, book meeting and boardroom facilities and use the collaborative space across all three sites.

Sussex Innovation Centre: an academic address in the heart of the South Downs

The original Sussex Innovation Centre is based on the leafy South Downs campus of the University of Sussex. The largest of the Sussex Innovation incubation hubs, its fifty-plus tenants benefit from a prestigious business address and ready access to the University’s academic, student and graduate community.

The Centre was conceived as the flagship development of the ‘Sussex Academic Corridor’ (SAC), a unique collaboration between public, academic and business sectors. Now wholly owned by the University of Sussex, the Centre continues to be committed to harnessing the economic potential of the extensive education and research resources available in the Sussex area.

Members gain a place within an entrepreneurial community, in a truly impressive location offering professional image, credibility, a sense of belonging and a stimulating community of like-minded people.

Sussex Innovation – Croydon: part of the UK’s fastest growing technology and business hub

Sussex Innovation – Croydon occupies two floors of the iconic One Croydon building, in the heart of the borough’s booming business district. The hub features a large open plan collaborative space, and office space for more than 30 tenant companies. Croydon’s vibrant, ambitious business community is currently one of the fastest-growing in the country, and Sussex Innovation is ideally placed to help nurture that growth.

The hub is located seconds from East Croydon station, at a phenomenal access point to London, Gatwick and Heathrow. The new development is part of one of the largest investment programmes in the country, with £9billion to be invested in the borough of Croydon over the next five years. The Croydon growth plan aims to bring 1million sq ft of high quality office space, 2,000 new businesses and 16,000 jobs to the area by 2020.

Sussex Innovation – Brighton: co-working and follow-on space in the city centre

Sussex Innovation – Brighton, a purpose-built new site, is due to open in summer 2022. As well as all of the usual Sussex Innovation facilities, the six-storey development will incorporate larger offices to support rapidly growing businesses as they exit the Sussex Innovation Centre, providing a stepping stone before finding their own premises.

The hub will also feature a large hot-desking and co-working facility to encourage collaboration and business development among Brighton’s huge community of freelancers and pre-start-ups.

Locations:

Location 1

Sussex Innovation Centre

Science Park Square

University of Sussex

Falmer BN1 9SB

Tel: 01273 704 400

Location 2

Sussex Innovation – Croydon

One Croydon

12-16 Addiscombe Rd Croydon CR0 0XT

Tel: 0203 828 1300

Location 3

Sussex Innovation – Brighton