KQ Labs to support ten new start-ups

KQ Labs, an accelerator programme at the Crick to support start-ups working at the interface between biomedical and data science, is now open for applications for a second year following a funding commitment of £499,000 from Wellcome. Applications close on 15 September 2019, and are open to entrepreneurs from anywhere in the UK.

Providing critical support to early stage data-driven health science start-ups, KQ Labs offers a customised framework with a 16-week accelerator programme. The programme includes workshops to inspire and nurture the next generation of start-ups and training in transferable skills to create future digital health leaders.

As part of its unique focus on data driven health, KQ Labs is supported by Health Data Research UK and Genomics England. Through the accelerator, the ten selected start-up companies will be given £40,000 each to validate their proposals before seeking significant investment.

The programme is called KQ Labs to represent the ‘Knowledge Quarter’ area around King’s Cross, Euston and Bloomsbury. The Crick sits at the centre of a data, biomedical science and creative design ecosystem including the Alan Turing Institute, Google DeepMind, Benevolent AI, the British Library and Central Saint Martins, as well as UCL, its associated hospitals and the Wellcome Trust.

"The first KQ Labs programme was a great success and it was fantastic to see the first cohort of companies developing during the course of the accelerator" said Barbara Domayne-Hayman, Entrepreneur in Residence at the Crick. "Our vision is to catalyse a vibrant ecosystem for ‘biomedical meets data science’ in the King's Cross area, and we are looking forward to receiving applications for our second cohort of start-ups.”