New enterprise hub is launched in Helensburgh

The John Logie Baird Innovation Hub is a joint venture between LiveArgyll, the charity set up to run Argyll and Bute Council’s leisure and library services, and Helensburgh Community Council (HCC).

The hub is located on the upper floor at Helensburgh Library, where HCC members and LiveArgyll staff were joined by local members of Argyll and Bute Council and some of those who hope to benefit from the hub’s services, for the launch event.

Services available at the hub – and demonstrated at the launch event – include ‘hot desking’, for those who want to start a business but are looking for a base a bit more steady than a kitchen table but less formal, and cheaper, than an office; access to the wealth of expertise in the town from those who run, or have run, their own enterprise, as new business mentors; high-speed business broadband; and areas for team-working, one-to-one meetings, and video conferencing.

The launch event also featured demonstrations of two areas of modern technology which are expected to become vital for the success of many small businesses – 3D printing and the ‘Internet of Things’.

Nigel Millar from HCC said: “In his memoirs, Television And Me, John Logie Baird’s advice for starting a new business was to emphasise the importance of innovation.

“Looking ahead the hub aims to be fully operational by the autumn.

“This will be accompanied by two seminars – one will be on 3D printing, and the other will be on the sensor-based Internet of Things (IoT), which has so much to offer those in need of assisted living and support.”

In the meantime those wising to use the hub from now should contact fiona.sharkey@liveargyll.co.uk for more information.