Collaboration for Start-Up Growth

What was The Mills Fabrica’s approach when building its business in the UK and creating a shared space where innovators can feel they can collaborate openly and effectively?

At The Mills Fabrica, fostering collaboration starts with creating an environment that cultivates cross-disciplinary thinking.  Our coworking space has been designed to encourage such collaboration and flow of knowledge-sharing with hot desking, communal areas and event space. All of which is curated for a community of likeminded entrepreneurs and organisations who are all ultimately working towards the same goal of creating a better future for our planet, across our two focus areas of techtsyle and agrifood.

Additionally, we actively strive to build a like-minded community by hosting events, workshops, and investor showcases that also facilitates collaboration and innovation between start-ups and brands alike. Networking and making connections are good for business, but collaborators are even better, and this is the mantra that we foster at The Mills Fabrica.

Working together to disrupt the status quo and find new solutions is the most effective way to make a tangible impact. By enabling these connections and encouraging shared working like this, we are able to support start-ups to accelerate progress and turn ideas first into market-ready products.

We are also supporting companies at a later stage who are scaling, by connecting them to the industry and forming valuable contacts that can help take them to the next stage within their journey. We have curated community of likeminded individuals which is focused on bringing companies together from within the agrifood and techstyle industries, in particular.

Why is collaboration, rather than competition, essential for achieving sustainability goals?

Collaboration is vital for achieving our sustainability goals, as clearly, these challenges are too complex to be solved by one company or sector alone. We are lucky enough to live in an age where there is a wealth of sustainable innovations are being developed, and where one change is seen as effective, can have a knock-on effect in another. Collaborating and pooling resources alleviates brand fear in investing in new solutions and technologies – and the sharing of knowledge can break down barriers. The main challenge in creating a collaborative business strategy is balancing individual business goals with collective impact.

Part of The Mills Fabrica’s ethos is to encourage collaboration between innovators and brands. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we continue to cultivate and nurture these relationships and ensure that no one feels discouraged. Instead, we strive to inspire a greener way forward for the techstyle industry.

Can you share any case studies where connections between innovators and investors have led to measurable impacts, such as reduced carbon emissions or more sustainable solutions?

A great example is the collaboration between Patrick McDowell and Octarine Bio. Through The Mills Fabrica’s platform, these innovators connected and explored the use of sustainable biotechnology to create bio-based dyes for fashion. By replacing traditional chemical dyes with bio-based alternatives. They significantly reduced water usage and carbon emissions in the dyeing process.

Some of our portfolio investments have already shown considerable promise in generating impactful change for the planet. For example, Mango Materials, a portfolio company that transforms methane into biodegradable materials, has displaced 1.4 tonnes of plastics with its PHA-based pellets, avoiding the release of 836 kg of greenhouse gas equivalent.

What steps can organisations take to ensure that a collaborative space remains focused on impact and not overshadowed by individual competition?

To maintain a focus on impact, organisations must cultivate a culture of shared purpose and transparency. Colorifix, for example, is working with biological processes to colour textiles and dyes to the tune of about a tonne a week. If they increased this 1000-fold, they’d still be less than 1 per cent of the dye market. Alone they cannot create the change we need to see at pace. Alternative dying solutions exists today, but at an equally small scale. By sharing knowledge, contacts and barriers with each other, both will grow together – ensuring we see impact, but not competition between key innovations.

At The Mills Fabrica, our community is vast and opportunities for impact is tenfold, so there isn’t room for competition as most just want to see a positive change in the industry, and there are enough pieces of the pie for all. When we are all working together for a collective good, innovators don’t see sustainable progress as competition.

Encouraging regular communication, knowledge-sharing, and celebrating collective wins rather than individual successes helps keep competition at bay.

Can you provide a specific instance where collaboration in a shared space led to a breakthrough innovation or sustainable solution?

One breakthrough example is the development of Ecovative’s mycelium-based materials. By working within The Mills Fabrica’s ecosystem, Ecovative was able to connect with key partners in fashion and packaging industries, accelerating their product development. Through collaboration, they were able to refine their process of growing mycelium into sustainable alternatives for leather and packaging materials. This innovation is now being used by major brands to reduce reliance on animal-based or petroleum-derived materials, proving that collaboration in shared spaces can drive both innovation and sustainability at scale.

How do you envision shared spaces evolving to better support the growing demand for sustainable and innovative solutions?

As the demand for sustainable innovation grows, shared spaces will need to become even more specialised and resource rich. For example at The Mills Fabrica, we are curating a community of innovators specifically within techstyle and agrifood, which is unique to other spaces that already exist. We envision future spaces incorporating more advanced labs, testing facilities, and digital tools that allow for rapid prototyping and lifecycle assessment. By fostering deeper collaborations through our unique and specialised curated community, we can accelerate regulatory support and market access for sustainable innovations thanks to our sector specialisms, which is unique compared to other shared work and collaboration spaces.