The last year has been a challenging one for Etic Lab, as it has for everybody. The shift to remote working, and with it the impossibility of meeting together as a team, has been a difficult adjustment, but we believe that our achievements over the past twelve months are testament to how well we’ve managed this transition. We decided early on in the pandemic that we couldn’t simply hunker down and wait for Covid to pass; we wanted to do work that would address the present situation whilst also creating long-term value for our company.
Drawing on our founding values and insights from previous work, we outlined a vision for the next two years: we would engage in projects which responded to urgent needs heightened by the pandemic, whilst also addressing areas of long term commercial and social demand. Moreover, we would do everything in our power to embed the values of transparency, accountability and respect for privacy – more crucial than ever in this particular moment – in the design of our products and services.
The partnership model of Etic Lab is deliberately designed to reflect and reward the value of the team we have put together and our ambitions. By the Summer of 2020 we had set ourselves on a track to operationalise our values and experiences in the production of high-quality Research and Development projects spanning a range of domains that were implemented by our team’s skill sets on behalf of our clients. At the same time, we took the strategic decision to embark on two projects to commercialise high-value IP that we had developed in previous years with a view to securing the future potential for Etic to continue to innovate and engage with the massive challenges facing ourselves and our World.
This strategy was not without risk and we went into these projects with our eyes open to the massive commitments of time, effort and resources we would need and the challenges of trying to do so much under the conditions of the pandemic and Brexit, amongst other difficulties. Nevertheless, as things stand here in Autumn 2021, we believe we have, by our own standard, achieved most if not all of what we could have expected.
In the space of a year we have grown two commercial entities to the point that we have significant outside investment interest and, for the first time, two customer bases centred on supporting discrete products that we built in house. Our core business, Etic Lab, is now a recognised and growing brand with clients all over the UK and a significant portfolio of invention and innovation. Our team has been complemented by new skills and experiences and we look set to grow that even more after these fundraising rounds are complete and we begin work on our second phase roadmaps.
Our efforts have not gone unnoticed in Wales and wider afield. At a time where most of us spent at least some point curled up in bed wandering if the world was ending, we also somehow managed to pull off some incredible things. Before sharing here the acclaim that has brought us from other I would first like to say, as Managing Partner, a huge thank you – and a huge congratulations to the team at Etic Lab. What an incredible thing you have done and what a year to have done it.
So first off, the 2021 awards ceremony from our August get-together…
In July 2021 Kuva was shortlisted for Fintech of the Year at the Wales Startup Awards. Beth, Stephanie and Alex trudged all the way to Cardiff for a great evening, culminating in missing out to the darling of the Welsh tech scene Yoello. No shame there!
In truth, we were so proud to be shortlisted because, at the time if judging, our platform had only been live for a month and we were probably too early too meet all the criteria a winner should meet. So, if we could impress with what we already had this year, bring on next!
We were also privileged to be named one of Createch’s 100 Ones to Watch for 2021. Createch is a UK Government initiative to recognise world class organisations leading the way in bringing together creative skills and emerging technologies to create new ways of engaging and inspiring the UK’s business communities.
We were recognised for the product Bivalve – an arts focused reimagining of Kuva’s core product that has users in the Gallery, Dealer and Artist communities.
The list was revealed at London Tech Week in September.
Network Praxis was recognised by the innovation team of the Welsh Government as a potentially highly innovative company in May and as such was awarded a SMARTCymru Grant to undertake a significant piece of research and development.
In September we learned that Network Praxis had been shortlisted in the Powys Business Awards for Startup of the Year 2021, an initiative of the Mid Wales Manufacturing Group.
Though we again only managed to finish as runners up, we are very proud to have the recognition of our home county as one of the top 3 startup businesses to arise out of pandemic-struck Powys and we are grateful for the kind words and encouragement from the great and the good of mid-Wales.
In the same competition, Etic Lab proper was shortlisted as micro-business of the year. Again, finishing as runners up, we would like to thank Powys Business Awards for the recognition they have given us by shortlisting us for the award. We are proud with what we have achieved this year and proud to share it with our community. We hope that you agree with us that the evidence suggests we have given ourselves a strong chance of developing Etic Lab even further for many years to come.
By the way, we had a great time filming these…
Innovation Advisory Council of Wales
Finally, a massive congratulations to Associate Partner Stephanie Moran who has been asked to join the Innovation Advisory Council of Wales from November this year.
“The role of the Council is to advise Welsh Government on a broad range of matters to help drive research, collaboration and facilitate innovation to solve our greatest challenges and support delivery against the goals set by the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. The Council will assist in the development and delivery of the new cross Government Innovation Strategy for Wales, by providing advice on emerging trends and approaches, identifying areas of existing strengths and future opportunities using the ‘smart specialisation’ approach identified by the European Commission. This will also include identifying the key outcomes we want to achieve, healthier citizens, our Net Zero commitments and economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic.”
We look forward to supporting Stephanie in her task leading and reaffirming innovation strategy in Wales!
Thank You
The team at Etic are rightfully proud of what we have achieved in a ridiculously stressful year. It is an absolute privilege to work here and I cannot wait to see what we can do next…
