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EEDA Awards Funding for Colworth Science Park - [22-04-2008]

PRESS RELEASE - Monday 09 April

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has awarded a £1.85m grant to two of the world’s leading academic institutions, to establish an academic presence at Colworth Science Park in Bedfordshire. The science and innovation hub is being developed under a joint venture between Unilever and international property group Goodman.

The proposed academic presence would be led by Cranfield School of Management and by Cambridge University’s Institute for Manufacturing and Judge Business School Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning. Based within a state-of-the-art knowledge hub, academic staff would be able to work with a range of companies in a commercial setting with the full support of modern, shared facilities, amenities and equipment.

Mark Wathen, Lifesciences and Healthcare Programme Manager at EEDA, said:
“Colworth Science Park could help businesses and academics in the region accelerate the commercialisation of research to create wealth for the local economy. It would be a much needed breeding ground for innovation and enterprise in our region, and provide vital access to facilities to support local businesses and encourage collaboration.

“Furthermore it would attract significant inward investment to Bedfordshire, drawing businesses to the region and creating greater opportunities for the people in this area.

The science park recently submitted a planning application to develop the knowledge hub to house both universities with high quality office, networking and conferencing facilities. The development would allow Colworth Science Park to enhance its reputation as a world-class location for academia, research organisations and industry, focused on generating commercial value from research. This will benefit the economy and create high quality jobs in the region. The planning application also covers the development of an innovation centre, providing laboratory facilities for start-up companies.

Colworth Science Park’s location, near the village of Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire, is in the heart of the Cambridge to Oxford innovation arc and was selected by the universities because of its open innovation culture, providing an outstanding business research environment.

Dr Sally Ann Forsyth, Director of Colworth Science Park, said:
“This is a very exciting time for Colworth Science Park, as we have the potential to create a leading science and innovation hub right in the heart of Bedfordshire. We are delighted that funding has been granted that will allow two of the world’s greatest academic names to have a presence here.”

Colworth Science Park is already home to 17 businesses in a collaborative science community comprising major companies such as Unilever, as well as a number of local start-up businesses.

Joint venture partner Goodman has owned, developed and managed business parks in the UK for more than 25 years, and has a track record of creating and managing diverse and open communities, based on high quality, sustainable development supported by amenities and specialist facilities on site.

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