Luke Johnson among mentors for John Lewis incubator scheme
JOHN Lewis yesterday announced a 12-strong panel of experts, including entrepreneur Luke Johnson, who will help advise and judge the technology start-ups competing to develop the next big thing for its stores.
The department store group is setting up a technology incubator called JLAB, with five successful firms given office space and advice to come up with a product or idea that ensures John Lewis remains “on the cutting edge of change”.
Bindi Karia, vice president of entrepreneur banking at Silicon Valley Bank and Sara Murray, who founded confused.com as well as electronic tagging business Buddi, are also among the mentors who will help oversee the scheme.
The project, which will run from June until September, was launched last month in partnership with tech entrepreneur Stuart Marks.
At the end of the 12 weeks, JLAB will pick a winner and invest £100,000 to develop its project.