Influencing the Nation’s Innovation Landscape

It’s been a busy spring for the Southampton Science Park team which has been involved in discussions on the future of innovation across the length and breadth of the UK.

Business Development Director, Lucinda Lamont travelled to deepest Dorset to participate in TESTBED Dorset, an event led by the One Health Enterprise Network (OHEN). OHEN is a multi-stakeholder initiative designed to accelerate the development and deployment of responsible innovations that address complex challenges at the intersection of public, animal, plant, and environmental health. It has a bold vision for Dorset to be a living science park.

This intriguing initiative offers a new model of distributed research and development which, it hopes will demonstrate how landscapes can become testbeds to unlock innovation for a more resilient world in the face of global challenges.

Lucinda then visited Bath to meet with other members of the SETsquared enterprise partnership. This discussion centred around a new initiative that could further facilitate technology transfer through more targeted support for university spinouts, in line with the UK Government’s industrial strategy.

Back at base, Lucinda conducted a tour of the Science Park for colleagues from the Department for Business and Trade: a fantastic opportunity to showcase the innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration happening across the Science Park community, and to discuss how science parks support the UK’s growth agenda by helping ambitious companies start, scale, and succeed.

Meanwhile CEO Robin Chave and Operations Director Stuart Perry travelled to the Glasgow City Innovation District for the UK Science Park Association’s spring conference, hosted by the University of Strathclyde. Fittingly, the central theme here was the essential role that UKSPA members play within their communities, the tangible value they deliver in fostering innovation and achieving social impact, and their contribution to driving inclusive, place-based growth.

Robin noted, “Our broad engagement reflects Southampton Science Park’s role in supporting commercially-focused innovation at local, regional, and national levels. Through discussions such as those highlighted here, we are working to elevate awareness of the important contribution that both the Park and its community of outstanding entrepreneurs bring to the Central South economy, helping to shape direction and ensure that the region’s innovation strengths are recognised and supported to thrive.”