Good news for early-stage founders across Norfolk and Suffolk: the Future Tech Programme has been renewed for 2025–26.
The programme — delivered by Akcela in partnership with Connected Innovation, Norfolk County Council, Suffolk County Council, and Barclays Eagle Labs — provides structured support for underserved tech founders who wouldn't otherwise have the resources to turn their idea into a real business.
It's free. It's practical. And it works.
What is the Future Tech Programme?
The Future Tech Programme is a funded incubation programme designed specifically for early-stage tech or tech-enabled founders across Norfolk and Suffolk. It's not a lecture series or a general advice service. It's hands-on, structured support delivered by people who've started, scaled, and exited companies themselves.
The programme exists because starting a company is hard enough without the additional barriers that many Norfolk and Suffolk founders face: geographic distance from major VC networks, limited local incubation options, a digital skills gap in parts of the region, and a founder population that's overwhelmingly first-time and frequently non-technical. The Future Tech Programme was designed to lower those barriers.
Akcela is the Norfolk lead delivery partner, running the incubation and workshop programme from its base at Fuel Studios in Norwich city centre. Connected Innovation coordinates across the wider Norfolk and Suffolk geography, ensuring founders from Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, King's Lynn, and other towns in the region can access the support too.
What the programme has delivered
The numbers speak for themselves:
- 79 businesses supported across cohorts
- 42 workshops delivered covering business models, IP, investment readiness, marketing, and more
- 42 companies given free desk space and community memberships
- £2.2 million+ raised in investment by cohort members
- £435,000+ in grant funding secured
- An estimated £1 million in commercial deals introduced and completed
That's a 10x return on the public investment that funds the programme. For Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council, the Future Tech Programme is one of the highest-impact economic development programmes in the region.
What participants get
Founders on the programme receive up to six months of structured incubation support. Here's what that includes in practice:
Free desk space at Fuel Studios in Norwich city centre. Not a hot desk in a crowded co-working space — a genuine workspace where you can focus on building your company, surrounded by other founders at similar stages.
A curated workshop programme delivered by experienced practitioners. Topics include business model development, intellectual property, investment readiness, marketing and PR, legal structures, and go-to-market strategy. These aren't theoretical lectures — they're practical sessions built around the real challenges that early-stage founders face.
One-to-one guidance from the Akcela team and a wider network of mentors and advisers. The Akcela partners have personally started, scaled, and exited companies — including Foolproof, a Norwich-founded UX agency that grew to over 200 people internationally before being acquired. When they give advice, it comes from experience.
Investor connections — warm introductions to Anglia Capital Group, the UK Business Angels Association, and the wider angel and VC community when founders are ready to raise. The programme prepares companies for these conversations through structured pitch preparation and SEIS advance assurance guidance.
Community integration — becoming part of the Norwich startup ecosystem, with introductions to other cohort members, alumni, and ecosystem partners including SyncNorwich, Tech East, and Norwich Research Park.
Who should apply
The programme is built for early-stage tech or tech-enabled founders in Norfolk or Suffolk who meet any of these descriptions:
- You have an idea for a tech-enabled business but don't know how to get started
- You're from an underserved background and don't have the savings, network, or formal education that typical startup programmes assume
- You're a first-time founder and need structured guidance from people who've built companies before
- You have deep domain expertise in your field but no experience with product development, fundraising, or startup methodology
- You want to build a company in Norfolk or Suffolk rather than relocating to London
You don't need to be technical. You don't need a polished pitch deck. You don't need a degree or an MBA. You need a credible idea, real motivation, and a willingness to do the work.
The programme is deliberately inclusive. Some of the strongest founders to come through it have been people who'd never heard the word "incubator" before they applied — people from retail, agriculture, healthcare, and the armed forces who happened to have spotted a problem worth solving and had the drive to do something about it.
From Future Tech to full incubation
The Future Tech Programme is designed as a pipeline. Founders who complete the programme and are ready to commit to building a company full-time can progress into Akcela's full incubation programme — a 12 to 18 month intensive programme on an equity-for-services model.
Full incubation provides deeper support: weekly hands-on sessions with the Akcela team, fundraising strategy and execution, team building, product-market fit validation, and everything else it takes to get a company from early stage to investable.
Not every Future Tech Programme participant will progress to full incubation — and that's by design. Some will discover that their idea needs more development time. Some will realise founding isn't for them. Some will find that the community, workshops, and connections they've gained through the programme are enough to move forward independently. Every outcome is valid.
What previous participants say
The most consistent feedback from programme participants is that the structured accountability and peer community made the difference. Having a regular workshop schedule, a workspace to show up to, and other founders around you who are going through the same challenges creates momentum that's almost impossible to generate alone.
Founders also value the directness of the Akcela team. The programme doesn't sugarcoat things. If an idea isn't viable, you'll hear that — along with honest guidance about what might work instead. That saves founders months of wasted effort on the wrong thing.
How to apply for the 2025–26 programme
If you're an early-stage tech or tech-enabled founder in Norfolk or Suffolk, get in touch to find out more about the next cohort. Applications are assessed on the quality of your idea and your commitment to building — not on your background, qualifications, or existing network.
You can also learn more about what a business incubator does, explore funding options for early-stage founders, or read about the Norwich startup community you'd be joining.
