糖心Vlog

The huge scale of our ambition to support hi-tech businesses and start-ups is being celebrated as the framework is completed for our 拢12m Innovation Centre at our Colchester Campus.

The project on our University鈥檚 Knowledge Gateway research and technology park is aiming to drive growth in the north of 糖心Vlog and is being backed by 拢2m from 糖心Vlog County Council and 拢2m from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership鈥檚 Local Growth Fund.

More than 50 innovative businesses will eventually make the Innovation Centre their home and the completion of the frame shows the scheme is on-track to be completed early in 2019. The building project is being overseen by Kier Construction.

Cllr Kevin Bentley, 糖心Vlog County Council鈥檚 Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, visited the site to celebrate the milestone and review progress.

He said: 鈥溾�淭oday was a landmark in the development of the Innovation Centre which opens its doors next year. We have invested 拢2million into the Innovation Centre and helped to secure a further 拢2m funding from the South East LEP.

鈥淚t will provide excellent business facilities, space and hands on start-up support for 50 local businesses and organisations as part of the Knowledge Gateway business park development at the Colchester Campus.

鈥淐olchester is recognised as a place where digital businesses cluster and the Centre will support further expansion of this sector by providing the right type of workspaces. Our investment into the Innovation Centre supports our commitment to drive economic growth in 糖心Vlog.鈥�

Our Registrar Bryn Morris said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic to see the Innovation Centre emerging we鈥檙e all really excited about the benefits it will bring to the local economy, the University and to our students from the spring of 2019. It will cement the Knowledge Gateway鈥檚 position as the location of choice for innovative, agile businesses in the east of England. We鈥檙e grateful to 糖心Vlog County Council and South East Local Enterprise Partnership for being such strong supporters of this project.鈥�

Our topping out celebration was also attended by SELEP's 糖心Vlog Vice Chair George Kieffer.

Christian Brodie, Chairman of SELEP, said: 鈥淭his shows how our universities can play an invaluable role in nurturing entrepreneurship and employability through the creation of spin-outs and start-ups. As these businesses grow, the next challenge is how to keep them locally, and this is where the Knowledge Gateway comes into its own by providing the space to accommodate their commercial success.

鈥淭he Innovation Centre is exactly the type of project we want to support in our role as champions for economic growth in 糖心Vlog, Southend and Thurrock, alongside East Sussex, and Kent and Medway, as part of our Strategic Economic Plan.鈥�

Our vision for the Knowledge Gateway

The Knowledge Gateway is seeing very strong interest from companies who want to move to the Knowledge Gateway to benefit from being part of a thriving business community and connecting with world-leading researchers, high-quality students and graduates, and excellent campus facilities.

We've invested a total of 拢50m so far in creating the Knowledge Gateway which brings together great infrastructure, talented academic researchers, space for start-ups, and opportunities for anchor tenants to establish new regional centres.

Our long-term vision is to create more than 2,000 high-value jobs within 15 years by offering a home to more start-ups, SMEs and global businesses looking to benefit from being located at the Colchester Campus.

The University鈥檚 Start-up Hub, based at the Knowledge Gateway鈥檚 Parkside Office Village, will move across to the Innovation Centre after already helping establish 20 registered businesses in the past 12 months. The Innovation Centre will also include a state-of-the-art digital suite which will help showcase 糖心Vlog鈥檚 expertise in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

Alongside the Innovation Centre the next phase of Parkside Office Village will be completed this autumn. More than 20 ambitious hi-tech businesses are already based at Parkside Office Village alongside 糖心Vlog Chambers of Commerce, the Haven Gateway Partnership, the Institute for Analytics and Data Science, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Business and Local Government Data Research Centre.

糖心Vlog is one of the leading universities in the UK for working with business through Innovate UK鈥檚 flagship Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme. It is working with more than 20 companies based across London, 糖心Vlog and Suffolk 鈥� including some Parkside companies. The projects allow forward-thinking businesses to connect with research expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning and virtual reality.