Simon Bond, new head of SETsquared.

Director of the University of Bath Innovation Centre, Simon Bond, has been appointed the new head of SETsquared. SETsquared is an enterprise collaboration between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. The organisation offers a bridge between complex academic research and its commercial application.

SETsquared also provide Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, which bring together ‘high calibre’ graduate associates and university academics on two to three year projects. Simon has been a part of SETsquared for 10 years, developing networks and entrepreneurship courses. He has also led research and incubation at the University of Bath.

Discussing his new role, Simon has said, ‘I’m passionate about SETsquared and in my experience the partnership has made a very real impact on the UK economy, fostering some of the most exciting hi-tech start-ups in the country.

‘Businesses within the SETsquared incubator have a higher than average 90 per cent survival rate and often go on to create hundreds of jobs.

‘My key areas of focus going forward will be business acceleration, student enterprise, research commercialisation and ensuring that SETsquared builds on its reputation as the best university business incubator in Europe.’