Eagle eyes on the Library's new tech space

Monday 19 December 2016

Budding entrepreneurs and local start-ups now have access to the latest prototyping equipment on Island to help get their business ideas off the ground.

The local Barclays team has been working in partnership with the Jersey Library, The States of Jersey and Digital Jersey to bring a Barclays Eagle Lab MakerSpace and Co-Working Space to Jersey.

Housed in old office space, upstairs in the Library, the new Lab will give private businesses access to tools to quickly produce and test prototypes on-Island.

Chief Librarian Ed Jewell said: "We’ve got machinery like the 3D printers, we’ve got a laser cutter, there’s a vinyl cutter, there’s a hot press that you can use to press vinyl onto garments or t shirts and we’ve also got a 3d scanner coming soon which in theory will allow you to scan anything and print it out on a 3D printer.

“We’ve got several different audiences that we think will be engaged and using this, so start-up businesses or small enterprises that either wouldn’t have access to this equipment readily or perhaps need to make prototypes because at the moment you have to send it away to the UK or possibly China, there’s substantial costs involved with that and timewise whereas with this we’ve got the machines at a much lower price so the idea is that you can rent out the different machines on an hourly basis which covers the consumables, but you can do the work In-Island rather than having to send it off.

"We're looking at developing community skills so we're looking in the New Year to start up groups and workshops so that people can use a 3D printer for the first time, they can try their hand at that and that brings us on to education and working with schools and classes and giving children the opportunity to engage with the latest technology.

"For us, it's the next step in terms of the Library's support for learning and knowledge and lifelong learning and digital skills. For us this is the next stage in terms of digital literacy and making sure we are supporting stem skills so science, technology education and maths."

Barclays, Digital Jersey and the Library will also work with successful entrepreneurs, business angels, education partners and local professionals to provide a mentor and coaching network to help businesses grow.

The new facility is one of the latest in the bank’s successful network of Eagle Labs operating all over the UK.

Neil McCluskey, Head of Offshore and Local Markets at Barclays in Jersey, said: "It's creating this area where people can come in, use modern technology that they may not have access to, to grow themselves, which obviously whichever community they are in will benefit from those ground businesses.

"We had a meeting with Digital Jersey and the States of Jersey about how Barclays could play a part in helping what was going in in Jersey, so you've got the States of Jersey digital agenda and the policy framework and it all lined up.

"But the overarching aim is to give something to the community, every part of the community, they grow, the Island grows and we all benefit and that's the key."

You can find out more about the Eagle Lab at Jersey Library by emailing here.