Delivering Different Business Thinking for a Disruptive Sector.
We'd like to tell you about a new initiative that we are launching shortly. Wired Sussex is creating a new learning and support centre for start-ups and existing businesses in the creative and tech sector. Called the FuseBox, it will be based in New England House in Brighton.
Most business support models are based upon the needs of large companies in stable markets. If you are at the smaller end of the spectrum and operating in a disruptive, digital business environment, then we think that a different set of rules apply.
Digital technology has challenged the basis of much conventional business thinking, generating new ideas and re-invigorating old ones. These include;
- The re-formulation of the relationship between producer and consumer;
- Approaches that emphasise collaboration like social media, crowd sourcing and crowd funding;
- The development of coworking models and spaces;
- The challenges to standard notions around Intellectual Property through open source and other models and its impact on innovation;
- Design-led business modelling;
- Challenges to the classic limited stock company approach often through ‘Talent as asset’ models and the leadership and staffing approaches that flow from that;
- The adoption of co-operative and mutual models to, for example, manage internet peering points or deliver fibre optic networks.
The FuseBox is about exploring, developing and using these approaches to enable real businesses to meet real challenges. It will:
- Host and provide assistance to start-ups from the creative, digital and tech sector
- Deliver learning and support to existing creative and digital companies and freelancers
- Provide venue facilities to creative and digital community groups
- Act as an influential knowledge hub for disruptive business thinking
The FuseBox will be underpinned by a truly collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach to business support, drawing inspiration from a range of sources. As part of the Brighton Fuse project, we have engaged with D-school at Stanford, Hyperisland, Kaos Pilots, BIMM here in Brighton and others to understand how they have developed new and effective learning models. Like them, we want to create an approach to learning in business which is based around real world projects, is driven through peer-to-peer networks and is practitioner led. One that, in rapidly changing economic, social and technological times, can adapt to and embrace the evolving needs of businesses and collaborators.
Further, we also want to encourage and support informal and community-driven learning practices in tandem with more formalised approaches. We will aim to foster radical activity-based relationships with higher education and industry.
If this excites you, and you want to work with us to create something which not only delivers valuable support to creative, digital and IT businesses locally, but also becomes an internationally influential way of providing a different kind of business assistance, then please get in touch, either by email or phone.
The FuseBox has received some initial funding as part of an EU project called ReCreate. Recreate involves 16 UK and French partners including Brighton & Hove City Council. You can find out more about some other things which Recreate aims to deliver in Brighton here
Currently, The Fusebox is a bit of a building site, but we hope to launch it in March. That's when the work (and the fun!) begins.