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25,000 Start-Up Success Stories

Business & IP Centre's ambitious target: to help launch 25,000 new UK businesses

On Thursday 9 March, the British Library opens the doors of its enhanced Business & IP Centre. This trusted service will cut costs for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is designed to support entrepreneurs from the initial spark of inspiration through to successfully launching and developing a business. The Centre aims to help the launch of 25,000 new UK businesses in its first five years.

Users of the Business & IP Centre have free access to 40 high value databases - a saving of over half-a-million pounds in subscriptions. These databases give up-to-the minute company, business and industry information and financial news, and include Fame, Amadeus, Economist Intelligence Unit Viewswire, Financial Times, OneSource, Lexis-Nexis, Dialog and the Complete Business Reference Adviser (COBRA). Dr Daniel Brown, Entrepreneur in Residence at University College London - said that if he'd had access to the Centre [and its information] at the time he was setting up his business, he could have saved himself £20k on consultants' fees.

The Centre also offers free access to the UK 's most comprehensive collection of business and intellectual property (IP) information, including around 50 million patent specifications, unique databases on trade marks and registered designs, thousands of market research reports, company reports, trade journals, business directories and guides to legal information and government publications. Various 'how to' guides are also available, including advice on writing a business plan. Many of these resources are unavailable online and the Centre is one of the few places where so many are available in hard copy in a single location.

Information experts are on hand to guide people to the information they need and ensure that they make the most of their time at the Centre. In addition, the Centre acts as a gateway to the Library's other resources, such as its vast image bank, the sound archive and scientific and technical research.

The Centre is just a few minutes' walk from King's Cross, Euston and St Pancras mainline stations, and - from 2007 - the Eurostar terminal. This makes it easily accessible not just for businesses in and around London, but to users from other cities such as Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham.

In May 2005, the Centre was awarded a £1 million capital injection by the London Development Agency to help fund its transformation from a successful pilot project to a permanent national resource. The upgraded Centre opens its doors on 9 March 2006, and will include a networking area for entrepreneurs to collaborate and exchange ideas and a suite of workshops rooms where users can attend workshops and clinics - held by the British Library and its partners - on topics such as how to protect their brilliant ideas or inventions and how to develop a business plan and marketing strategy. The Library is also setting up an advice network where successful business people and professional advisers will give tailored 1:1 advice to aspiring entrepreneurs on a variety of topics.

Sir Digby Jones, Director General, CBI, said: "SMEs are major driving forces in the economy; amongst them are the major corporations and wealth creators of the future. The British Library's Business & IP Centre is an example of the kind of initiative that will enable SMEs to grow and prosper, providing support from initial inspiration through to commercialising and growing their business."

Lynne Brindley, British Library Chief Executive, stated: "Our partnership with the LDA is enabling us to make a unique contribution to UK economic success by providing a range of services tailored to the needs of SMES to exploit our unrivalled resources - information, knowledge, expertise and networks. This is exactly the kind of innovation that a great library should make and I am proud of everyone involved."

Manny Lewis, CEO of the London Development Agency, said: "The Business & IP Centre project is a key component of the LDA's strategy of delivering innovation support to SMEs. Our investment has acted as a catalyst to leverage the world class resources of the British Library which will help to maximise the productivity and innovation potential of London's enterprises by harnessing their knowledge assets".

This initiative continues the British Library's contribution to supporting the UK economy and, specifically here, supporting UK enterprise. In December 2003, the results of a research study estimating the British Library's impact on the UK economy - the first of its kind ever carried out by a major UK cultural institution - were released. The 2003 study showed, taking conservative estimates, that for every £1 of public funds the Library receives it generates over £4 of value to the UK economy.

For further information and images please contact: Ben Sanderson at the British Library Press Office (telephone +44 (0)1937 546126, email: ben.sanderson@bl.uk) or Lawrence Christensen (telephone +44 (0)20 7412 7114, email: lawrence.christensen@bl.uk).

Notes to Editors:

1. The British Library - is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk, which currently records almost 2 million 'hits' or visits per month.

2. The London Development Agency is the Mayor's agency for business and jobs. The LDA prepares the Mayor's business plan for London and mobilises the support and resources of hundreds of partner organisations to help build a thriving economy for London's people, businesses and communities. The LDA is dedicated to improving sustainability, health and equality of opportunity for Londoners.

3. Access to the British Library's Business & IP Centre is free. Users need a Reader's Pass, for more information visit: www.bl.uk/bipc.

4. Following its recent refit the Business & IP Centre will be officially launched with an event on 8 March called 'Discover the Entrepreneur Within'. Guests will be welcomed by Lord Eatwell, Chairman of the British Library and Matthew Rock, Real Business editor, will host the event. Four of the UK's best known entrepreneurs - Tim Waterstone, Founder of Waterstones and Daisy and Tom; Tony Lit from British-Asian icon Sunrise Radio; Dr Yvonne Thompson, Founder and MD of ASAP Communications; and Doug Richard of Library House and Dragon's Den - talk live, and answer questions, about the secrets of the entrepreneurial success. The official opening ceremony will be hosted by Lisa Aziz , ITV west News and keynote speakers include Sir Digby Jones, Director-General, CBI; James Purnell MP, Minister for the Creative Industries, DCMS, Lynne Brindley Chief Executive of the British Library and Mary Reilly, Chair of the LDA.

5. The enhanced Business & IP Centre's refit launched on 9 March will offer:

  • Impartial library information experts trained in the needs of SMEs and entrepreneurs to guide users to the full range of resources.
  • Workshops run by British Library and its business partners on subjects including: using intellectual property resources to check if ideas are novel, capitalising on market research resources, financing, marketing and selling skills, and pinpointing customers. These will also include creative workshops and legal updates. Some of these workshops will have a specific focus on supporting the needs of women, black and minority ethnic groups, and entrepreneurs with disabilities.
  • Business partners supporting the Business & IP Centre include ABi Associates, Business Link for London, Business Plan Services, Camden Business Forum, Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, Dynamic Asian Women's Network, Everywoman, ideas21, Innovation Central, Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, oneLondon, Own It, UK Patent Office.

A networking area for SMEs to meet and network with other SMEs, find out about the Library's full range of services and get inspiration from success stories about products and services conceived by other Centre users.

Wireless internet access (WiFi) so users can connect to the internet and access e-mail from the Centre by using the Library's own pay-as-you-go service.

Large-scale role model events - featuring successful entrepreneurs - to inspire, entertain and guide aspiring entrepreneurs on setting up and running a successful business and for SMEs to network. Previous examples include the sell-out 'Mothers of Invention', the 'Silk Road to Success' Asian Business events and the Creative Entrepreneurs events.

6. The workshop spaces and networking area have been designed as a contemporary and inspirational intervention constructed without structural modifications within the existing shell of the reading room. Materials such as etched glass, Page Lacquer wall panelling and stainless steel fittings have been carefully selected and detailed by the architects, eldridge smerin, to match the quality of the existing Library. The coloured dividing walls sit within translucent glass panels and may provide display areas for case studies, artwork and graphic information.