Hannah Churchman, Head of Innovation and Growth at Bruntwood SciTech, on what its female founders incubator does for the companies that go through it, and why so much of this year’s Manchester cohort is health tech.
Ask a founder what an incubator gave them and you usually get a pause, then something vague about the network. It’s an honest answer. It’s also why plenty of founders skip the programmes altogether and try to build those connections cold, which takes about two years and a lot of unanswered emails.
Hannah Churchman runs the growth side of Bruntwood SciTech, which develops lab and workspace across the UK and wraps programmes, events and introductions around the property. Its female founders incubator is in its fourth year and has taken more than 60 businesses through it. This year’s Manchester cohort leans heavily towards medtech and health tech, which tells you something about what is being built in that city right now.
We asked her what the role actually involves, what the incubator gives the companies on it, and what she would tell a founder trying to get traction in Manchester.
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TRANSCRIPT
I’m Hannah Churchman, Head of Innovation and Growth at Bruntwood SciTech. Bruntwood SciTech is the UK’s leading developer of innovation ecosystems. In a practical sense that means that we develop property, we develop workspaces and lab spaces that support companies to grow and develop innovations. Around that we also provide the infrastructure, the support, programmes and events that enable companies to grow at any stage, whether they’re forming, scaling, or growing. At Bruntwood SciTech, we run a female founders incubator. It’s in its 4th year, we’ve supported over 60 businesses and they’ve gone on to raise 2 million investment. We have a range of sectors and in the Manchester cohort this year, we have a high proportion of medtech and health tech, which I think speaks to the ecosystem we have here.
We support them with their PR, their marketing, with investment support, everything they’d need on every step of their journey. My role as Head of Innovation and Growth is to work with our customers and help them access the growth support they need, whether that’s investment and funding, talent and skills, or connecting them into the wider ecosystem, which is a range of partners.
The development and the innovation of medtech and health tech is essential to the future. It helps with creating new diagnostics to then look at the different cures, the different preventative measures, everything that we need for a better society. My advice to companies looking to grow, to make a positive impact, and to develop that innovation, would be to connect with the right people.
It’s essential that you’re connected to the right people and the right places who can really help you and support you on that journey, as well as signpost you and get access to services and resources you might not typically get access to, whether it’s investment, talent or connecting into the NHS Foundation Trusts, it’s essential that you find a way to connect to the right people that can get you into those places. For founders looking to expand into Manchester, I would really recommend finding a programme, an incubator, an accelerator, something that really suits your needs that’s going to help you and support you on that journey.
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Bruntwood SciTech’s female founders incubator is open for applications, visit bruntwood.co.uk/female-founders-incubator where you can learn more about the application process.
Video by Nathan Taylor, Video Production Lead at Global Good, and Founder of NT91 Photography.
