Blogs

Monika Radclyffe, Centre Director: The right time for accelerated innovation

By SETsquared-Bristol / 31st March 2021

Last week we were all reflecting on a year since the first lockdown. Gosh, what a year it has been! I am sure everyone has their own reflections and personal experiences. I had given birth to my second son three weeks prior to that first lockdown, so I was quite happily nesting at home with my…

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Steve Edwards, Centre Director: 2020. Progress in a time of lockdown

By SETsquared-Bristol / 3rd February 2021

I entered Engine Shed in January 2020 as the Centre Director at SETsquared Bristol on an interim contract with a year to embrace the community and maybe tinker with a few bits of the well-oiled incubation machine. Roll on a few months to the challenges of the COVID pandemic and the resultant lockdown that would impose wholesale change on the way that we do everything. Not a standard year but an incredible lesson in how unwelcome upheaval can be good for progress.  As the country…

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Startups Magazine guest blog: Instant win wellbeing at work – and how to get started on a budget

By SETsquared-Bristol / 11th December 2020

This month we feature a guest blog from our partner, Startups Magazine. Considering introducing an employee wellbeing programme in 2021, but concerned about the financial outlay and where to begin? Fear not, as it does not take a huge chunk of cash to create a successful wellbeing programme for your staff. However, you do need…

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Great one-to-ones and other habits of effective leaders

By SETsquared-Bristol / 30th October 2020

SETsquared Bristol ran an interactive workshop led by Rich Littledale and Amy Christenson, Founders of Startup People Clinic, to empower attendees to become effective leaders. Rich and Amy bring deep people insight from business psychology and coaching, as well as pragmatism from time in-house, and experience supporting leading startups. Here we share our top tips…

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Steve Edwards, Centre Director: Horses for courses and buildings for people

By SETsquared-Bristol / 1st October 2020

There I was about to write a blog on how great it has been since we reopened Engine Shed and welcomed people back into the office and meeting spaces in SETsquared Bristol. After months of strict lockdown and the summer exodus, September started with a reaffirmation of the joys and benefits of face to face…

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Paul Forster, Community Manager

Socially Responsible Recruitment: An interview with Paul Forster

By SETsquared-Bristol / 30th July 2020

Socially Responsible Recruitment’s (SR2), Alicia Teagle, had a chat with our Community Manager, Paul Forster about diversity and inclusion (D&I), SETsquared Bristol projects, books and everything in between… I’ve been really looking forward to getting Paul onto Women Rock and super excited to collaborating with him throughout the rest of this year and beyond. We both share…

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How to turn a good idea into a successful product

By SETsquared-Bristol / 22nd May 2020

On 30 April 2020, Dr. Steve Kitson, CEO of IMPAX Consulting, ran a workshop for SETsquared Bristol to help attendees understand the steps involved in developing a product and bringing it to market. In a career that spans academia, multinationals and startups, Steve has developed technology ranging from quantum optics to plastic displays and grew his last venture,…

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Lisa Matthews, Business Incubation Manager: The new SETsquared ‘virtual reality’ bringing opportunities for tech ventures

By SETsquared-Bristol / 30th April 2020

It was 5:05pm on a Tuesday evening, in the SETsquared office at Engine Shed. Steve Edwards (Centre Director) turned to me and said “well I guess tomorrow’s a good a day as any”. The full realisation of what had just happened started to dawn on me. We’d spent the day in a Covid-management planning meeting (just like COBRA, but fewer biscuits), and had made the…

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Greville Commins, previous Entrepreneur in Residence: Avoid ‘Target Fixation’ and steer where you want to go

By SETsquared-Bristol / 17th April 2020

Advanced Driving instructors will tell you that if your car gets into a skid you must firstly correct the skid and then steer where you want to go. One of the common problems car drivers have in a crisis situation is they stare at the object they want to avoid and often crash right into…

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Steve Edwards, Centre Director: Opportunity in the time of COVID-19

By SETsquared-Bristol / 27th March 2020

Among all the dark clouds, there are a few bright sides to the current COVID-19 crisis. One of the biggest is seeing how people across the country and the world are seeing opportunities to respond to the many and varied issues and finding hope in the horror. For SETsquared Bristol this feels fortunately familiar as…

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