Innovators and entrepreneurs are being given the chance to pitch their bright ideas to a Dragon’s Den style panel to win a £25,000 cash boost as part of an innovative scheme to grow the Surrey economy.
Surrey Venture Studios has been developed by the county’s three universities – Royal Holloway University of London, University for the Creative Arts and University of Surrey – to boost innovation, launch successful businesses and create jobs.
Funded by Surrey County Council’s Economic Growth Fund, it brings together entrepreneurs, academics and students for intensive two-day workshops before they present their ideas to an expert panel.
Successful participants secure places on a six-month accelerator programme with the possibility of receiving up to £25,000 in catalyst grant funding to launch their businesses.
The first event was held this month at the Surrey Technology Centre at the University of Surrey in Guildford, where 13 budding entrepreneurs worked through their ideas in specialist sessions.
Further fully-booked workshops are scheduled this month at Royal Holloway University of London, University for Creative Arts’ Epsom campus, and Surrey County Council’s headquarters in Reigate.
It is one of dozens funded by the council’s Economic Growth Fund, which has seen millions of pounds of government and private funding invested to drive growth, create jobs, improve infrastructure, increase productivity and upskill Surrey’s workforce.
Matt Furniss, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth, said: “In less than a year, the Economic Growth Fund has seen millions of pounds of funding invested in creating jobs and boosting growth across Surrey.
“Surrey Venture Studios is just one of dozens of projects which secured funding from the competitive process – and I’m looking forward to seeing some of these bright ideas develop and grow into fully-formed businesses in the months and years to come.”
Surrey Venture Studios is designed to support those with ideas, prototypes or early-stage research that haven’t yet reached their full revenue-generating potential.
The programme provides expert mentoring and structured support to help innovators determine whether turning their idea into a business is the right path forward.
Successful accelerator participants will commit approximately two days per month over the six-month programme, receiving ongoing mentorship and support as they develop their business propositions.
The first workshop was led by Chris Pett, Digital Innovation Sector Lead at SETsquared, who said: “The idea is that we’re building people up to the point where they feel more confident and capable to get out of the building and discover potential market opportunities based on the spark of an idea they’re thinking about right now.
“For a lot of them, this could result in a major change in their career from academic research into becoming an entrepreneur and potentially building a business.”
Speaking at the first workshop, Caroline Fleming, Director of the Surrey Innovation District at the University of Surrey, said: “We are delighted to launch this Surrey Venture Studio programme. We’ve got a brilliant collection of really bright minds – students, entrepreneurs and academics from the University of Surrey and the wider community – and we’ve been giving them some tips on how to think about what they need to do to develop their business.
“They’ve been really engaged, coming up with some fantastic questions and feedback, and hopefully they get really good value out of our workshop.”
Three further workshops are scheduled in the next three weeks, to be held at Royal Holloway University of London, University for the Creative Arts and Surrey County Council.
A second round of applications is expected to open in spring 2026.
For further information visit the Surrey Ventures Studios page on the Business Surrey website.
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