UKSPA Directory 2017
013
A
n enormous amount has been achieved
by our UK science and technology parks
and innovation sites to date. The UK is
currently host to around 123 parks
supporting over 6,000 companies, and
205 incubators and 163 accelerators and around
£33 million of investment supporting 3,450 and
3,660 UK-based start-ups each year, according to
the latest NESTA research.
Demand for supported spaces in which to
collaborate and grow is increasing. Figures
from Savills reveal that in 2016, pharmaceutical
companies acquired 372,819 sq ft of office space
across the South East alone. These commitments
included three record-breaking deals signed after
the EU referendum.
N u r t
G r o w
u
r
e
Science and technology sites are the only places
offering the provision of innovation and business
support services. Unlike business parks, UKSPA
members have the capacity, resources, and
management teams able to understand and
facilitate the business of science and technology,
where it is going, its products and its markets.
They must support every stage in the growth cycle
of their tenant businesses and know the appropriate
third parties that are able to help those businesses
through their journey.
As our sector matures, UKSPA and its members must
look to the future. We must seek to support the full
innovation cycle. We need to get a positive flow of
companies from incubators and accelerators all the
way through the system.
To drive the knowledge economy and maximise
opportunities presented by our valuable supported
space, science site management teams must face
the challenge of developing and initiating a strong,
positive exit strategy to assist maturing companies
out of the parks and into the wider community. The
space, resources, facilities and expertise associated
with each park should be available to new and
growing companies. To move forward, science sites
must focus on incubation and acceleration, feeding
into the future of the national economy.
I
n
n
o
v
a
t
e
To survive in a knowledge economy, local parks
can no longer function in isolation. Demand for
locations that support innovation and development
in increasingly competitive global markets will drive
tenants to facilities with strong, reliable digital
connectivity between geographies and across
sectors. Without extended networks, smaller parks
may become vulnerable. Cross-park partnerships and
collaborations between industry, higher education
providers, research hospitals, and government are all
increasingly important to a secure future. We are no
longer running science parks. We are developing
innovation communities. To accomplish this, the UK
Science Park Association must rebrand.
As an association we are strong, but we must
not limit ourselves to the boundaries of the UK,
the limits imposed by the “science” label, or the oft
misconstrued word “park”. To continue thriving we
must evolve to seek international collaboration,
and we must accept that true innovation works most
effectively when the logical, analytical, right-hand
brain of science and mathematics works together
with the creative, holistic, left-hand brain of artistic
awareness and intuition. We must lift ourselves
away from the perimeter fencing associated with
park boundaries and expand outwards, connecting
with our wider communities and networking
through digital technologies.
SUCCEED
In our future, collaborative partnerships (as distinct
from mergers) between national and international
partner associations will also become key. With
clients in common, we should seek to build services
in common. Our tenants are no longer local. The
majority are now global. Markets are global,
technology is global, research is global. We must
To survive in a knowledge
e c o n o m y, l o c a l p a r k s
can no longer function
i n i s o l at i o n .