The British Library has published a new report titled 'Supporting Economic Growth 2007 - 2009', the full version of which is available online at www.bl.uk/bipc/evaluation. The report describes British Library Business & IP Centre's professed success in providing London’s aspiring entrepreneurs with both the inspiration and confidence to take on the economic downturn.
The British Library Business & IP Centre, launched in 2006 and supported by the London Development Agency (LDA), seeks to support the city’s small business community. According to the latest report, the Centre currently helps London's visiting SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) generate £22 in additional turnover for every £1 invested by the LDA. This is seen to highlight the Centre's importance and the significant return on investment it delivers.
Over the past year, the Centre has reportedly become a hub for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to bounce back from recession, with footfall almost doubling over the last 12 months. Job losses across the capital have contributed significantly to this rise in footfall, with 27 percent of users stating that they were either unemployed or had recently been made redundant. In total, 65 of the 471 users surveyed self-reported having started a business between 2007 and 2009. This is claimed to indicate that the Centre has helped its 6,007 users during this time create 829 new businesses in London – about three times as many as in Westfield, Europe's largest shopping centre.
Despite being conducted at the end of 2009 in the height of a global recession, the survey of 471 users, carried out by Adroit Economics Ltd., is seen to demonstrate the value of the Business & IP Centre. In total, 89 percent of entrepreneurs who used its business resources between 2007 and 2009 reportedly felt they would not have achieved such success without the Centre's support.
The Centre has over £5 million in resources, including market research, company reports and databases, and an archive of over 60 million patents freely available.
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