SETSquared - First in Europe for Silicon Design

The South West of England is home to the UK's largest concentration of silicon designers, second in the world only to the USA.

It is estimated that the cluster is 50% bigger than the next largest, which is in Cambridge, earning the 50 miles stretch from Swindon to Bristol the title of the UK's Silicon Corridor.

Silicon design companies located in the South West have the dual advantage of a supportive ecosystem and a highly skilled workforce. The latter is the legacy of Inmos in Bristol and GEC-Plessey Semiconductor in Swindon. Between them, these two organisations trained a generation of silicon designers and, while the organisations themselves have changed beyond recognition, the designers endure and have gone on to lead the world in areas like RF, video, multicore processor and reconfigurable components. There are currently around 50 silicon design companies in the South West, employing approximately 5,000 people. A feature of the cluster is its active start-up culture, with more than £250 million having been raised in venture capital in recent years. In order to encourage this, a sophisticated support structure has evolved, with assistance from the South West Regional Development Agency.

Central to this support structure are the start-up business incubators run by SETsquared, which is a partnership between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey. These incubators provide high-growth potential technology start-ups with serviced office space, business guidance and mentoring as well as access to a high calibre network of experience entrepreneurs, potential investors and business professionals. They have a proven track record of helping high tech ventures to move from initial ideas to commercial viability, as Simon Bond who runs the SETsquared incubators in Bath and Swindon explains:

"The South West leads the UK in silicon design, and electronics is vital to the region's economy. The SETsquared incubators exist to help new companies to get started, to find suitable partners, to secure vital investment and even to win their first contracts. Our network of contacts is extensive - we have a database of over 1000 potential investors - and each incubator has its own business development team whose role is to coach companies, review their progress and make introductions to the people and organisations that can help accelerate their growth."

Silicon South West was founded by Simon Bond as a way of reaching out to the entrepreneurial semiconductor sector in the region. "Entrepreneurs can be anywhere," Simon points out, "embedded in an organisation or working at their kitchen table. Some of our entrepreneurs are from spin-out companies from the universities but the majority just happen to live around here. Silicon South West is a networking organisation that brings together companies in the electronics sector via meetings and a bi-monthly newsletter. We hold regular events that generally attract in excess of 100 delegates and our newsletter includes some of the most highly regarded writers from the electronics sector. Semiconductor start-ups in the Silicon South West network also enjoy free access to the latest Electronic Design Automation software as a way of helping them to raise investment. This is provided by Mentor Graphics and Pulsic."

For the first time, Silicon South West is organising an annual conference in 2007, sponsored by S-Park, picoChip and South West RDA. The event, entitled Wireless 2.0, will focus on the emergence of a new class of wireless mobile with its implications for the industry. Keynote speakers include the global R&D director of Vodafone and the Technology Director of Hutchison 3G.

Exciting developments are currently underway which look set to secure the future of the electronics sector in the South West of England. Silicon South West recently secured UK Trade & Investment funding to run a pilot to fast-track semi-conductor start-ups in the region. Scheduled for launch at the annual conference, the Silicon Enterprise Export Development programme will identify priority companies and provide targeted support to help them to perform better in a global market. And, even more significant for the region, are plans to create the UK's first Silicon Research and Development Centre at the S-Park Science Park in Bristol. A multi-million pound funding package is currently being sought for the 3,000 square foot Centre, which will provide three laboratories specialising in Silicon Characterisation, System Test and Reconfigurable Technology, along with a High Performance Computing infrastructure.

Simon Bond concludes: "Almost all high-value industry, including environmental technology and aerospace, depends on silicon design. The South West's new Silicon Research and Development Centre will allow more semiconductor design companies to enhance their designs at prototype stage and, subsequently, improve the speed to market for their Silicon Chips. Nothing else like this exists in the UK and it will provide an important competitive advantage for the UK, attracting growing numbers of inward investors."