A comprehensive bespoke business support is also offered to tackle issues companies face around access to markets, skills, technical equipment and money, funding and debt investment. Tellingly business failure rate at Sci-Tech Daresbury is less than 5% and companies’ sales growth has been an average of 30% per annum over the past 5 years. The last two years have seen Sci-Tech Daresbury’s facilities expand further with the opening of Techspace One and Two offering both grade A office accommodation and high specification laboratory space. Further, in February this year, planning approval was granted for the construction of three new buildings, constituting 42,000 sq ft of grade A space. Sci-Tech Daresbury is a shining example of what public-private sector JVs can achieve for science and innovation in the UK, when a clear mission is pursued. Together, those behind Sci-Tech Daresbury’s success have focused on five key objectives, namely: driving excellence in science and technology, supporting business growth through innovation, developing a world-class science campus, attracting and developing the very best talent and powering productivity through partnerships. It’s a strategy that has paid off in spades.
A ROBUST APPROACH IS KEY
Key to this has been a robust approach to the JV. From the start it was recognised that there had to be good understanding and clear agreement of the strengths of the existing partners and what would be required from any new private sector
The Hartree Centre is home to the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, Blue Joule
JV partner. It was important that each could define what success looked like and that each was committed to providing sufficient time for the JV to bed in and succeed - probably at least five years and ideally closer to ten. Setting up a practical and workable governance and management structure for the JV is critical. This needs to provide balance to evaluating and agreeing the medium to long-term strategic vision with the practical short-term management and delivery of operations. Further, all partners need to have an equal voice and contribute to the success of the partnership while objectives cannot be focused only on financial performance and occupancy metrics, but also cover the wider desired impact, for example collaboration and innovation success and growth of companies on site. Finally, the public-private JV will evolve and it will need to adapt and change with the growth and success of the JV, therefore
disagreement is not necessarily a bad thing - there may be different ways of achieving the same outcome. This approach has resulted in Sci-Tech Daresbury being regarded as a significant city region asset. Steve Rotheram, the Liverpool City Region mayor, said: “Collaboration unlocks growth and Sci-Tech Daresbury is an exemplar campus, helping to drive our region’s growth and to underline our reputation for science and technology innovation and excellence.” His words are backed up by facts. A report last year revealed that the campus’s economic value to the UK is set to rise to £660m by 2040. Dr Tim Beswick, STFC’s executive director of business and innovation, said: “As the campus continues to expand, it’s evident that it’s creating real economic and societal impacts, both on a regional and national scale. Sci-Tech Daresbury is now a central hub for collaboration and investment in this rapidly growing sector, attracting major international companies to base their operations in the North West of England.” The future is set to see Sci-Tech Daresbury continuing to help the UK gain international influence by developing the next generation of scientists. It’s therefore little wonder that former Science Minister, Jo Johnson described its contribution as: “an excellent example of why we’ve put science and innovation at the heart of our Industrial Strategy to boost the competitiveness of the UK economy.” ■
For further information, visit: www.sci-techdaresbury.com
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