National Network

The British Library has been awarded funding from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), to explore how the huge success of its Business & IP Centre in supporting SMEs, start-ups, inventors and entrepreneurs can be mirrored in six city libraries across the UK - Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

In February 2013, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, announced his intention to provide funding for the project as part of their Enterprising Libraries project over the next two years, in partnership with Arts Council England.

The objective is for the Centre at Newcastle Library to be fully operational by Spring 2013, with the remaining sites being piloted throughout 2013 and 2014. After this point the Library will be looking to secure support and funding in each local area, in order to make the piloted schemes a permanent fixture.

While the selected libraries already have core business and intellectual property collections and expertise, the sharing of the Business & IP Centre services will aim to create a strong business network between these institutions, and to trigger a surge of entrepreneurial activity in the chosen cities, which are all counted among the UK’s Core Cities.