After the Government’s Budget announcement on 15 March, all eyes were focused on what support would be offered to help people and businesses in this cost-of-living crisis. One area of focus was energy – and two major announcements were made around energy costs:
So, if businesses can’t get relief from rising energy costs, will this start to affect innovation? Take a look at what could affect your innovative ideas and how to combat them:
Play it safe or take a leap
Starting a new business requires time and energy – from you and your business location. So, what happens if you don’t have enough capital to get your amazing idea off the ground, or worse, start and fail?
According to a Startups article in 2022, the number of small businesses in the UK has seen a decrease of 6.6% since 2020. In that time, we’ve been through Brexit, a global pandemic, and a cost-of-living crisis, so it’s not surprising that small businesses are going under.
Because your energy is costing more, it means people are less likely to start a new innovative adventure!
However, as reported from the same article, 34% of consumers are choosing brands that are more environmentally ethical, and that 31% of Gen Z respondents would choose more sustainable products if they were made available.
So, if you wanted to launch a business and be innovative, as well as save some money on energy – take a leap and try and look at more sustainable options for your innovative idea.
Powering technology can get expensive
Let’s say you’ve got over the hurdle of setting up your business and you’ve got a great idea for a product you want to create – how are you going to do that?
For example, you could purchase a 3D printer for your home to start prototyping, or even to print your products. At its most basic, this will cost you around £17 a month to run if you’re using it eight hours a day, seven days a week (1)
There are ways of getting around this, which include looking into spaces that have all the kit you need at a fraction of the price. If this is you, you might want to look into our Maker Membership, which offers unlimited monthly access to our Production Space, which has metal, print, wood, plastics, and digital workstations – we can feel the creativity bubbling already!
Stressing about costs can stifle creativity
Have you ever been able get your job done when you’re stressed out about 10,000 other things happening? Us neither!
That’s why, with increasing energy costs and little to no business support, it can be hard to think of inventive and innovative ideas without stopping yourself and thinking “I can’t afford to do that”.
While mentally calming activities like walking, exercise and meditation may help de-stress you, it still doesn’t change the support aspect.
Getting yourself into a community of like-minded individuals is key to calming down your stress and increasing your creativity. You have the time and space to discuss ideas, generate connections and create something innovative!
So, is the price of energy affecting innovation? Well – it only will if you let it! It is true that energy prices are increasing and so the physical act of creating can cost more, but the increase in price should only lead to an increase in creativity to generate your idea.
(1) Using Sust-it energy calculator, using the UK Energy Price Guarantee (Oct 22) and based on £0.61 for 150w power usage across 8 hours, 7 days a week for 4 weeks
