Dundee is to host a pioneering new innovation hub for the digital and creative media sectors following the launch of industry collaboration centre IDEAScotland.
It is expected the new centre, to be based at Abertay University, will support up to 10 new startup firms in its first year helping create profitable new businesses by commercialising the very best ideas.
Successful applicants will benefit from mentoring, networking and investment opportunities as they are coached through the process of turning an entrepreneurial spark into a commercial reality.
Partners for the hub which will work closely with the IDEALondon start-up centre in Shoreditch, which was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in December include Courier publisher DC Thomson, group company brightsolid, and Abertay and Dundee universities.
The two centres will share investor links, business opportunities and customer testing.
IDEAScotland innovation manager Claire MacDonald said the accelerator was an “exciting” new addition to Dundee’s business landscape.
“This is the very first accelerator for the digital, creative and technological economy, which Dundee already has a world-class reputation in,” she said.
“It’s really difficult to take an idea and actually make it work, but this is a way to take something and to make it investor-ready.”
Would-be participants will be expected to pitch their ideas, with those successful winning through to an eight-week accelerator combining online learning modules, business advice, input from expert mentors and tailored workshops to help innovators achieve their potential.
Dundee firm Insights, a global outfit with more than 20 years’ experience in people development, will also advise the would-be entrepreneurs.
Teams will then bid to enter a 12-week prototyping phase, with successful firms receiving up to £25,000 of funding from Abertay University’s Prototype Fund to develop a working product or service and demonstrate its viability.
Companies will then participate in roadshows to pitch their product and organisation to potential investors.
Ms MacDonald said the centre was open to all looking to turn their brainwaves into viable commercial propositions no matter how old or where they are based.
The move has been welcomed by officials from both Dundee’s universities.
Dean of Dundee University’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Professor Tom Inns said IDEAScotland would be a “key programme” for graduates and researchers.
“Opportunities for new digital businesses are emerging from all the discipline areas within DJCAD,” he said. “Building future business opportunities in Dundee in collaboration with international networks can only be good news for all stakeholders in the region.”
Abertay director of business development Paul Durrant said: “IDEAScotland builds on our successful UK Prototype Fund in investing in digital start-ups, and we look forward to supporting exciting new companies that have the potential for rapid growth with the support of the partners and investors.”
DC Thomson director Richard Hall said the publisher has a “long and successful history of supporting small businesses” seeking to reach their potential.
“IDEAScotland represents an exciting opportunity to further promote digital entrepreneurs in the UK, in particular in Dundee,” he added.