Is a £1billion forecast impact investment market in the UK a welcome feast for capital-starved social entrepreneurs? Isn't £1billion really just crumbs falling from the financial system's table? And feast or famine, is impact investment offering the right diet for the social venture market?
At the Socap conference in San Francisco in early October, over fifteen hundred people gathered to talk about the "intersection of money and meaning". Socap is the biggest gathering of impact investors in the world, and participants who travel to San Francisco from every continent are described as 'pioneers' seeking to "direct the power and efficiency of market systems toward social impact".
A university illustrates the radical shift in the objectives to which enterprise is being put: it dedicates itself entirely to social enterprise.
With the intensive and sophisticated learning regime that it has developed, the RCA feels that it has a lot to give other incubators. But will it deliver on this? Nesta who is a major supporter of the initiative has high hopes that it can.
A competition is being run by a start-up to find a new start-up that will itself be groundbreaking in their industry, and will be provided with substantial launch-funding, showered with contacts and mentors/advisers – all in the glare of publicity.
I've been reading Tim Harford, (the 'Undercover Economist's) most recent book: 'Adapt: Why success always starts with failure', and I've relished the insights that behavioural economics offers about the real reasons why people make the choices they do.
Consider the possibility of Google and Facebook announcing a new link: not only do tomorrow’s Googlespecs have an embedded camera and phone as well as internet access, but they also have an embedded RFID tag and a QR code tag. Your Googlespecs could ‘recognise’ other wearers and bring up their features and their Facebook, Twitter and Google+ details on the lenses of your own Googlespecs.
The new European Space Agency Incubator at Harwell has yet to establish itself as a new-business community. It has available outstanding technical support in the shape of a number of world-class scientific organisations on the site; and it provides generous funding for technical support. But its business support is limiting: it provides no business mentoring; it provides little business advice - there is little call for it and channels to access for venture funding are at present small in scale.
With the intensive and sophisticated learning regime that it has developed, the RCA feels that it has a lot to give other incubators. But will it deliver on this? Nesta who is a major supporter of the initiative has high hopes that it can.
The annual National Investment Summit run by the UK Business Angels Association, which I attended recently, illustrated the growth of angel investing in the UK and its increasing sophistication.
![Twitter icon [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/Twitter-button_34x35.jpg "Twitter icon [original]"){kind=small}
Follow our daily updates on Twitter @nesta_uk
![Linked in icon [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/LinkedIn_button_34x35.jpg "Linked in icon [original]"){kind=small}
Take part in the discussion on our LinkedIn group
![Facebook icon [original]](http://admin.nesta.org.uk/library/images/facebook.jpg "Facebook icon [original]"){kind=small}
Share your views on our Facebook page
Sign up for our regular updates for the latest news and opportunities.
T +44 (0)20 7438 2500
F +44 (0)20 7438 2501
Nesta Operating Company, a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833.
