New centre to boost business
Entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses in Devon are set to benefit from a unique new support service.
Exeter Library has been chosen to pilot a Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) dedicated to supporting local entrepreneurs to start, run and grow their own businesses.
The new centre will join the network of six others across the UK based on the successful British Library Business and IP Centre in London. Over the past two years Business & IP Centres have been created in city libraries in Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool. Northamptonshire Libraries will also be piloting the service.
It will provide a dedicated service for both aspiring and established entrepreneurs in the area to take advantage of free intellectual property and business information and expertise.
Users will be able to access the library's valuable online collections such as market research, company and financial information, and patent and trademark specifications, spanning both the UK and global markets.
Access to these core library collections, typically not affordable for small businesses, will be complemented by a face-to-face service, including practical workshops, networking events, and one-to-one advice and coaching sessions from business experts on how to protect their ideas, grow their businesses, and become commercially successful.
Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth, said: “Devon is a dynamic and thriving environment for businesses, so it is excellent that we will soon be able to offer small business owners and entrepreneurs from across the county a place where they can access high quality information, advice and support to thrive.
“The Centre will be a great addition to our library and will play an important role in both supporting and creating business growth and will no doubt prove beneficial to those who use it and the wider local economy.
“I will look forward to talking to colleagues in the Local Economic Partnership (LEP) about how this high profile new development can make the maximum impact on our local business community.”
Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for the library service, said: “We are very pleased that the British Library has asked us to join their network. The success of the Business & IP Centre model is evidence of the strong connection between libraries and business.
“Exeter Library is our flagship facility in Devon, and is the perfect environment to deliver innovative business support for those wanting to set up and grow their business in Devon.
“To be chosen to take part in this pilot alongside some of England’s major cities is testament to the success of Exeter Library in its first year of reopening after a major refurbishment, establishing itself as the key regional library in the South West. With the first Fab Lab based in a library in the UK, we are growing the library’s potential to support economic development in the county.”
The news comes as The Department for Communities and Local Government and Arts Council England announced that they will dedicate £400,000 funding to support the British Library’s ambition to transform UK city libraries into hubs for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The British Library will also make a contribution of £253k in cash and non-cash resources.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has pledged £300,000 towards the project, with Arts Council England contributing a further £100,000 in a follow up to the Enterprising Libraries programme established in 2013. Devon’s library service will receive £40,000 for the initiative.
The British Library’s vision is to create a UK-wide network of Business & IP Centres in libraries by the end of the decade. The centres will support local economic growth and innovation and provide free and trusted business support for the nation’s entrepreneurs, so that anyone starting or running a business has a central place to go, in their local area, for support, inspiration and information.
The model has proven successful in helping businesses thrive and survive, and an independent report found only one in ten companies helped by the London Business & IP Centre fails after year three, compared with four in ten across the UK.
