News

The team behind www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk – the largest independently-owned small business organisation in the UK with over 350,000 members – have conducted a snap poll to 762 business owners and senior management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to gauge their reaction to the latest episode of Dragons’ Den.

As the UK moves towards its net zero goals, it faces a myriad of skill shortages across all industries and sectors, as the government puts pressure on businesses to decarbonise for the future.

Four in five (80%) employers have increased their health and wellbeing support or employee benefits to adapt to the changing circumstances of their staff, according to new research conducted during January 2023 for GRiD, the industry body for the group risk protection sector.

As Brits tackle the rising cost of living, new data released from Sky Connect – Sky’s B2B telecoms business – reveals that the majority (87%) of freelancers and remote workers are concerned about the impact working from home is having on their energy bills.

The list of challenges facing industry is long: climate change, energy shortages, disrupted supply chains and a shortage of skilled labor. The solution to these challenges lies in the targeted use of technology. At the same time, governments need to get their economic policy right. HANNOVER MESSE 2023 covers not only technologies for connected, climate-neutral industry, but also provides a forum for a global policy discussion among industry, government, science and social representatives.

BGF’s early-stage team reported strong momentum in 2022, having invested £69 million in a range of innovative businesses in the UK & Ireland, predominantly operating in life sciences, climate & sustainability, and deep tech.

Visa, Froda and Lunar are announcing a global partnership and launching a new, innovative technology aimed at resolving issues surrounding financing. The product, which for the first time utilises push-payment functionality for financing, aims to reduce transaction times to mere seconds. Ordinarily, this process would have taken months.

Futurebuild 2023 will see the net zero pioneer put innovation under the spotlight with the brand new FutureX Innovation area sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and in partnership with Ryder Architecture. Startups and SMEs, with fresh ideas, products and technologies to transform our industry, will be together in the Innovation Pavilion creating a real hub for knowledge sharing and learning from each other’s experiences.

Improving the ranking of your business in the search results through effective SEO is one of the mainstays of successful digital marketing, offering a cost effective way to boost both visibility and leads.

With all signs pointing towards an economic downturn in 2023, the financial outlook for the year to come is sure to be mixed. With new challenges regarding inflation and the threat of recession looming, businesses of all shapes and sizes will be forced to consider their working policies to ensure survival and then sustainable growth moving forward.

More than 2,700 mobility industry professionals have registered in just one week for eMobility Expo World Congress, the innovation event for the electrified, autonomous, connected and sustainable mobility industry, to be held in Valencia (Spain) from 21 to 23 March.

IoT companies raising funds in 2022 pulled in $15.9 million on average, up 30% from the previous year, reveals new research by Avnet Abacus, an electronics distributor that consults engineers when they’re designing new products. The engineering firm analysed crunchbase data for companies listed under the Internet of Things to provide insight on the level of investment activity happening within the IoT.

Following a shock announcement, Nicola Sturgeon is stepping down as First Minister of Scotland. After serving in the role since 2014 the leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party has said that the decision came as she felt she had less energy to give to the job, and wanted to spend more time with her family.

ChangeNOW, the largest event of solutions for the planet, will return to Paris from 25 to 27 May 2023 for its 6th edition.

Masafi, Enhance Ventures, Kent PLC and Joi Gifts, amongst other companies, will take part in the Wellbees Challenge across the United Arab Emirates. From March 1st to 21st, Wellbees, a new generation all-in-one business-to-business employee wellbeing platform, is launching a nation-wide corporate competition where employees will go head-to-head against other companies to find out who can take the most steps for a good cause.

Stage2, the first Spanish accelerator for start-ups in the industrial space, launches today a new call for applications to its industrial-tech acceleration programme, which is based in Barcelona.

Amsterdam will play host to Workspace Design Showin October 2023, an eventfocused on vision and innovation inworkplace interiors andworkspacedesign.One of the biggesthighlights isthe Workspace Design Talks,assembling aworld-class lineup of experts inworkplacestrategy and design to develop the future workplace experience for employees.

The Economic Development Board [EDB] Mauritius is inviting UK Business Leaders, High-Net-Worth Individuals and Property Investors to come and learn about its ‘land of opportunities’ via a dedicated Business and Investment Forum to be held in London this March.

AstroLabs, the leading entrepreneurship ecosystem builder in MENA, celebrated its 10th anniversary with the ecosystem at its spaces in Riyadh, Al Malqa. The regional celebration brought together Saudi’s innovation pioneers, including H.E. Dr. Nabeel Koshak, CEO and board member of SVC, along with key ecosystem partners, including the Ministry of Investment in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and the Royal Commission for AlUla.

In the face of a shrinking economy, founders of early-stage software companies are looking for safety in numbers when it comes to co-founding teams; investors are more discerning, with a focus on quality over quantity; and start-up growth is moving away from HR and employee collaboration tools and towards the finance, compliance, DevOps and productivity categories.