Business leaders sought to shape Surrey’s economic future

Are you a local business leader who wants to be a driving force in shaping Surreyโ€™s economic future, be a voice for businesses in Surrey, and use your experience to help inform the delivery of projects that will bring tangible benefits to the local business community and residents?

Business Surrey – which is a Surrey County Council service – is expanding the membership of the Surrey Business Leaders’ Forum to ensure it is reflective of the diversity, innovation, and growth that is happening across Surreyโ€™s economy.

As a member, you will bring your knowledge and expertise from your business and wider sector to share insights about the opportunities and challenges your business faces, help inform local decision-making, and shape new initiatives and investments designed to support local economic growth.

To register your interest in joining the Surrey Business Leaders Forum, please email economy.growth@surreycc.gov.uk.

A member of the team will be in contact to set up a call to share more details about the Forum and discuss your interest in joining.

About the Business Leader’s Forum

The Surrey Business Leadersโ€™ Forum is a diverse and representative group, bringing together companies from across the county, including business representative organisations, SMEs and representatives from major Surrey employers and priority sectors.

It plays a critical role in elevating the voice and role of business in local decision-making.

The forum supports the One Surrey Growth Board and Surrey County Council with business insight and expertise and represents a diverse local business voice related to Surreyโ€™s key economic strengths.

It will provide challenge and insight into the business impact of public sector initiatives and raise awareness of local business and economic needs.

For further details on how the Business Leaders’ Forum supports the work of Business Surrey visit the How We Work page.

About Surrey’s economy

With 110,000 businesses, Surrey fosters a thriving and diverse economy which generates ยฃ50 billion a year to the UK economy.

Alongside an impressive mix of international enterprises such as Samsung, Sony and the WWF, among many others, Surrey is also home to innovative start-ups and a high level of micro-businesses, adding to the countyโ€™s entrepreneurial spirit.

Surrey has a highly skilled workforce. Fifty-four per cent of residents have a degree or higher. The area also has prestigious educational and research institutions, including three prominent universities and national research agencies. The business success rate is high, at 88%, compared to 81% nationally. As a result, it is well-suited to nurturing some of the UKโ€™s most successful companies and world-leading sectors. These include createch, cybersecurity, AI, space and satellites, health, and gaming.

Read more about Surrey’s economy here.

Denbies vineyard in Surrey

UKโ€™s first animal healthcare start-up incubator launches in Surrey

The UKโ€™s first start-up incubator dedicated to livestock and companion animal health – vHive – has opened its doors at the University of Surreyโ€™s Vet School.

The Veterinary Health Innovation Engine โ€“ vHive for short โ€“ will support a cohort of start-ups and small companies looking to bring their innovative animal health products and technologies to market faster and more efficiently.

The business incubator is the result of a strategic alliance between alliance the University of Surrey and Zoetis, the worldโ€™s leading animal health company, to pursue collaborative research in areas that are beyond or complementary to Zoetisโ€™ in-house activities.

vHiveโ€™s vision is to become a world-leading centre for data-driven innovation and to catalyse the creation of new products and services to improve outcomes in livestock and pet care.

Based at the University of Surreyโ€™s Vet school, a short walk from Surrey Research Park, along with office and lab space, it will provide start-ups and small businesses with access to vital opportunities to access funding and investment.

vHive will also spearhead collaboration between companies in the incubator and businesses across the Surrey Innovation District, including those at the Surrey Research Park, and beyond as well as members of the Animal Health Innovation Network.

It officially launched on Wednesday 17th April with an introductory showcase of the first cohort of startups, an expert panel discussion and networking opportunities.

The move underpins Surrey as a leader in animal health, making it one of the county’s key sectors which we are proud to support and champion.

Background to vHive

Established in 2015, vHive is an international player in animal health research and collaboration. In 2023, vHive 2.0 was given an updated mission to build on the achievements of the original partnership by investing in state-of-the-art technologies adapted from human health, such as AI, biomarkers, big data, and health informatics.

Visit theย vHive websiteย for more details.

Welcome to Business Surrey

Business Surrey, Surrey County Council’s new business facing brand and website, has now gone live.

The start of April saw Surrey County Council formally absorb the key functions previously held by the countyโ€™s two Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), Enterprise M3 and Coast to Capital.

It means for the first time there is a single organisation responsible for driving sustainable economic growth across the whole of the county. 

The transfer also means the Council gains formal responsibilities to deliver business support through the new Surrey-wide Growth Hub and deliver government-funded programmes focused on skills. 

A new business-facing website for the whole of Surrey is fundamental in ensuring the Council starts delivering for businesses and residents from day one – placing it ahead of the national curve, which is positive news for it’s 1.2 million residents and 110,000 businesses.

What is Business Surrey?

Business Surrey provides free and accessible support for all businesses in Surrey – through targeted bespoke support for high growth companies, highlighting available funding and grants, and easy signposting to relevant national and local initiatives.

Anyone looking for help and support for their business in Surrey can contact the team of experts via the business support section of the new website. Topics include Access to Funding; Talent, recruitment and apprenticeships; Starting a business; and Innovation and technology.

detailed and easy-to-use Support Directory also contains more then 100 national, regional and local schemes, providing businesses the chance to search for and contact external providers for help on a range of topics.

Those with more general queries can also contact the team via the Contact Us form.

News, events and networking opportunities will also be promoted on the site.

To keep up-to-date with news and events then sign up to our newsletter and follow Business Surrey on LinkedIn.

Do you have events and news for Surrey businesses?

Business Surrey is a gateway to support, advice and information for businesses across the whole of Surrey.

If you have an event you would like listing, you can upload this directly via our Submit an Event form.

If you have relevant news or a service to include in the directory then send through details via our contact us form.

Image advertising the new Business Surrey website