A business hub to help Bristol’s digital entrepreneurs start up, scale up and innovate has been officially launched.
The Digital Innovation Business Acceleration Hub (DBAH) aims to support 120 companies working on new technologies in the health, well-being and creative media sectors across the West of England. 
Set up by the University of Bath in connection with SETsquared, the world’s number one university business accelerator – which is backed by the universities of Bristol and Bath – the hub will give digital entrepreneurs the tools to grow and innovate.
It will also enable them to establish lasting research partnerships with the university – which is offering its expertise and facilities to work with the businesses to undertake research, development and innovation.
It is hoped this will lead to the adoption and commercialisation of new products, services and technologies that will drive this sector’s growth and productivity.
The DBAH is part-funded by finance secured through the European Regional Development Fund for new business acceleration hubs, along with the university’s Sustainable Technologies Business Acceleration Hub (STBAH). Others are concentrated on advanced engineering and social enterprise.
The DBAH has already attracted widespread interest, highlighting the incredibly vibrant and growing number of new or growing tech companies in the region seeking business support.
The project aims to establish and scale-up small and medium enterprises over the next three years in the social care, residential care, human health and wellbeing fields also audience engagement, entertainment and creative media as well as ATR/VR and immersive technology. 
DBAH joined forces with West of England tech information group TechSPARK for last night’s launch in Bath.
The event, which was supported by specialist Bath recruitment firm FWD Thinking, included a panel discussion featuring three entrepreneurs at different stages of their business journey.
DBAH programme head and its entrepreneur-in-residence Garry Pratt, pictured, said: “Our connections with the University of Bath SETsquared Innovation Centre have meant we have already been able to engage with more than 20 tech start-up companies from the region, which is great and shows there is an appetite for the hub.
“The DBAH is a great opportunity and offers businesses fully funded bespoke support – our links with academics and researchers at the University of Bath can provide collaborative opportunities which is invaluable to any start up.”
On the panel were Dr Becky Sage, CEO of Bristol-based Interactive Scientific, which designs immersive solutions for scientific visualisation, collaboration and experimentation in the education and pharmaceutical markets, Jo Hardy, founder of Bath-based Curious Trekkers, an early stage start-up aiming to encourage primary school kids get active, especially those that aren’t naturally enthusiastic about traditional sports lessons, and Adrienne Percival, founder-director of Bath-based Flourish Zone, which is creating an AI driven platform to help people and organisations increase their productivity, wellbeing and resilience.
For more information on the DBAH, visit www.dbah.org
