A landmark development designed to nurture the next generation of technology businesses is home to more than half a dozen new ventures only weeks after its opening.
Jo Johnson, Minister of State for universities, science, research and innovation, officially opened the £5.2m Ingenuity Centre at the University of Nottingham last autumn.
A part of the University of Nottingham Innovation Park (UNIP) on the Jubilee Campus, the Centre aims to provide a home for technology ideas with commercial potential, whether they have been developed by entrepreneurial students, University research projects or early-stage businesses looking to grow in an enterprising location.
New ventures
The Ingenuity Centre has attracted ventures launched by students, inward investments from elsewhere in the UK and even an international business which is new to the UK. The businesses range from a clinical trials software start-up to a specialist internet marketing company.
A number of space technology companies are also moving into the facility, following an agreement signed with the UK Space Agency which will provide businesses with the opportunity to access a range of key technological expertise including downstream applications of geospatial engineering, aerospace, energy, digital and advanced manufacturing technologies.
The businesses at the Ingenuity Centre have been attracted by prestige, purpose-designed facilities which puts them alongside other tech firms with whom they can share insights and experiences. The building is also home to the University’s dedicated centre for the development of entrepreneurial skills, the Haydn Green Institute.
Services for enterprise and innovation
Dr Mark Tock, Operations Director at the University of Nottingham Innovation Park, said: “The University already has a very strong portfolio of services for enterprise and innovation, many of them concentrated on this site, and the Ingenuity Centre was the natural next-step.
“What we’re seeking to achieve here is the significant economic impact which comes from nurturing knowledge businesses likely to deliver high value jobs because of the specialist nature of what they do. That is already apparent in the first wave of tenants.”
The businesses are based inside a circular, three-storey building whose tyre-tread architectural shell takes its inspiration from the history of a site which was once home to bicycle legend Raleigh.
The Centre’s tenants will benefit from regular events which deliver insights useful to growing technology businesses, and access to relevant student talent and specialist University research.
Fifty businesses
The University aims to attract up to 50 businesses to the Ingenuity Centre over the next three years, with a focus on aerospace, energy, data and digital technologies. It’s hope they will employ up to 350 people, generating a turnover of £25m between them.
Dr Tock added: “We’re thrilled by both the numbers of businesses who have moved into the Ingenuity Centre already and by the genuinely fascinating ideas within those businesses. “There is already a pipeline of people wanting to follow them and I’m expecting to make some significant announcements about new tenants in the new year.”
For more information about the Ingenuity Centre, please email Mark Tock or tel: 0115 748 4608