The British department store John Lewis is to run its own business accelerator called JLAB for new start-up businesses in the UK. Accelerators offer training and mentorship for start-up initiatives, but they’re more typically set up by corporations such as Microsoft and Barclays. JLAB received hundreds of applicants for places in the new scheme and there are currently 25 start-ups that have been selected and will be pitching their ideas. The remaining businesses range from retail to artificial intelligence that can predict and identify crime. John Lewis hopes that by working with new initiatives in their early stages, they will be less likely to lose business to them in the future or have to buy them out at a high cost.
