Great start to sixth year as money raised by tenants exceeds £200m
Stevenage, UK, February 1 2017 – Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the open innovation campus driving collaboration to improve healthcare, is celebrating its fifth birthday. Opened in February 2012 to bring together academia, industry, the NHS and other players in the UK life sciences sector, SBC now has 49 tenants which have raised more than £200m1 in funding over this time period. A five-year celebration event will be held later in 2017, which will showcase campus success stories and discuss plans for Phase 2 of SBC’s development.
SBC is very proud of the vibrant community that has been created on campus, with organisations large and small networking and collaborating. A high volume of visitors has added to the mix, increasing the chance of fruitful interactions catalysing innovation. Other highlights of the period include the development progress made by some of SBC’s smallest corporate tenants, launch of an open innovation challenge in neurodegenerative diseases, and the establishment of translational laboratories by the University of Cambridge and UCL (University College London). Relocation of MRC Technology’s Centre for Therapeutics Discovery to, and location of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult’s Large Scale Manufacturing Centre on, the site are also important for the development of the campus.
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst’s stakeholders are GlaxoSmithKline, Wellcome, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), and Innovate UK. They continue to be supportive as plans for Phase 2 of the campus are developed.
Martino Picardo, CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, said, ‘SBC’s first five years have been a great success, and I would like to thank everyone, including our stakeholders, for their enthusiasm, support and hard work. Over the next five years we will continue to focus on working collaboratively to help grow the life sciences sector in the UK, starting with the East of England Science and Innovation Audit in Life Sciences, which we are leading.’
