Social Ventures
Entrepreneurship allows researchers to implement innovative ideas in a new way – whether it’s cleaning up London’s air, developing new medical technology for the NHS, or tackling ingrained poverty.
There’s been an explosion of interest in social ventures in recent years, as academics and students turn to commercial tools to tackle the myriad problems we face in our society.
These companies need capital if they’re to grow, which is why we’re excited to be supporting new social ventures emerging from Queen Mary research.
This is a new and growing area at Queen Mary.
Contact us to talk more about how you can make a social impact with your investment.
Or, if you’re a researcher at Queen Mary, get in touch to discuss how we can help you develop your idea into a social venture.
London Social Ventures
Social ventures from universities are vital for London as they harness academic expertise to address social challenges, driving both innovation and positive change. These ventures can create jobs, promote sustainability, and improve quality of life, while also fostering a culture of entrepreneurship. Their potential to scale can have a lasting impact on London’s economy and communities.
We’re leading a new initiative alongside UCL to generate a critical mass of new social ventures big enough to raise a permanent self-sustaining fund that will back university social ventures emerging across the capital.
Despite their massive potential for social and economic impact, university social ventures often get stuck in a bind: they can’t grow without funding; a fund can’t sustain itself without a pipeline; a pipeline won’t emerge without a fund.
We want to change this, which is why we’re working alongside UCL and other partners to develop London Social Ventures.
We’re building a pipeline of new ventures from London universities and developing a London-wide support network of legal support, business model development and mentoring.
We intend to generate a critical mass of new social ventures big enough to raise a permanent self-sustaining fund that will back university social ventures emerging across the capital –benefiting communities across London for years to come and demonstrating proof of concept for this approach for other regions to follow.