INSIGHTS / News

Entrepreneurs, start-ups and innovators from the Wessex region are being urged to learn about how opportunities in ‘big data’ can help them grow their businesses at a free networking event in Southampton this month.

The event, called Next Tech Wave, is being jointly held by SETsquared, the top university business incubator in the world, and the UK Space Agency and will bring together some of the country’s leading space related big data SMEs to explore opportunities for start-ups developing new infrastructure, software and services.

Big data has a £10billion global market, including next generation opportunities within the Internet of Things, retail and health research sectors and opens up new opportunities through free data sets of information from space including satellite images.

Colin Baldwin, UK Space Gateway programme manager at the UK Space Agency, said: “The benefits of big data may not be apparent to businesses when they first hear of it, but the information that’s available can provide enormous opportunities for businesses of all types.

“Space derived data can be used in a range of different sectors including agri-tech, transport and logistics, and even healthcare, and the potential to combine space data – much of which is free – with other datasets presents exciting opportunities. We want to show what working with the space sector can do for businesses and encourage as many entrepreneurs as possible to take advantage of the chance to incorporate this exciting new technology into their start-ups in ways they might not have considered.”

Simon Bond, innovation director at SETsquared, said: “This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, innovators and businesses from across the South to understand how space data can be used to develop products and services. Our hand-picked panel and selection of speakers includes representatives from Democrata, Proteusgeo, Rezatec and Satellite Applications Catapult, companies which are all leading the way with big data and are well-placed to explain the opportunities to innovative start-ups and entrepreneurs.

“There are some great chances for business here, especially as far as big data analytics go. It gives us access to new sources of information including sensors, website visits, open data and satellite-sourced information and imagery.”

The event is happening on Wednesday 20 January, from 5.30-8pm, at SETsquared’s Southampton centre at the Science Park in Chilworth and is free for entrepreneurs, investors, start-ups, innovation advisors and tech companies.

People wanting to register a place should visit SETsquared’s website

SETsquared will also be running its Entrepreneurship Training Programme in Southampton in March, which will provide a chance for budding entrepreneurs to have their business preconceptions challenged and be equipped with the skills, contacts and confidence they need to optimise their chances of start-up success. The programme will run from 7-9 March and places are available. People wanting to apply for a place can do so on SETsquared’s website.