An international ranking placed the incubator as second in the world when compared with more than 800 from 60 countries.
The SETsquared incubator is a collaboration between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. It works to grow technology start-up companies in centres based at each of the institutions.
SETsquared has worked with more than 1,000 early stage companies and raised over £1 billion of investment in 11 years.
Successful products of companies that have worked with the incubator include kits used to detect swine flu, microchips that speed up internet connections and a security system that guards against terrorism.
Co-founder and director of research at the University Business Incubator Index, Dhruv Bhatli, said that it “beat numerous business incubators based at top universities”.
He added: “It is an outstanding business incubator that provides exceptional quality to its client companies and produces growth companies and high economic impact.”
Simon Bond, innovation director of SETsquared, said: “The high ranking also comes with responsibility – the UBI Index highlights that Europe’s university business incubators have to work more effectively in order to compete on the world stage.”
He added: “SETsquared must now reach out to like-minded organisations to form partnerships and collaborations that add value for our entrepreneurs and client businesses.”
