| Norwich Research Park Location NRP Innovation Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7GJ Contact Details Contact: Alan Giles, Norwich Research Park Tel: 01603 456664 Email: alan.giles@nrp.org.uk Website: www.nrp.org.uk Partners and Background  The Norwich Research Park (NRP) is a partnership between the research-intensive University of East Anglia, three of the UK's eight Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC) sponsored research Institutes - the John Innes Centre (JIC), the Institute of Food Research (IFR), and The Genome Analysis Centre - the independently funded Sainsbury Laboratory and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. The park is also home to around 30 science and technology-based companies. The NRP office fosters interactions between the NRP and commercial partners. Over 11,000 people work on the NRP, including 2,700 scientists and research oriented clinicians.The NRP's wider stakeholder partners include the County (Norfolk), District (South Norfolk) and City (Norwich) Councils and the East of England Development Agency. Building development projects have also been funded on site by the John Innes Foundation, the DTI, the Wellcome Trust and BBSRC. With world leading expertise in the health, agri-food and environment sectors, underpinned by excellent IT, multi-disciplinarity is one of the NRP's key strengths, offering unique co-location benefits for companies wishing to access the knowledge base on site. The NRP offers high quality laboratory and office accommodation, undeveloped land with outline planning permission for new-build to suit, excellent business support capabilities, with patent lawyers, IP and Trademark specialists on site. Regular surgeries are also held on site with accountancy and law firms and a major bank who offer advice and support for NRP members and tenants. The NRP is also a member of a number of networks which will help integrate companies into the local and regional business communities. The NRP offers opportunities for medical trials at the Clinical Trials Unit and the Human Nutrition Unit caters to companies wishing to undertake dietary studies with human volunteers. Together this provides excellent opportunities for new occupiers to locate to the Park in close proximity to the existing members. The East of England is one of the UK's major regions for innovation and technology. Within this, Norfolk offers excellent opportunities to recruit high-quality science graduates and post-graduates. Workers in Norfolk have the shortest average journey to work time in southern England, and companies in this area also enjoy the lowest rates of staff turnover. NRP partners are actively involved in numerous international collaborations, both within the EU and beyond. NRP researchers are participants or coordinators of €multi-million EU-funded projects as well as working on individual collaborations with researchers from academia and industry. Size  The NRP occupies around 160 hectares, with a further 55 hectares allocated for future development in the local authority plan for expansion of the Park to attract science-based companies to the NRP. The government recently announced a £26m capital investment for the NRP to create up to 5,000 new jobs in science and related activities over the next 10-15 years funded through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and BBSRC.In total, there are over 100,000 square metres of laboratory space, with over 6,000 square metres of conventional and containment glasshouses and nearly 200 square metres of controlled environment suites. Accommodation Norwich BioIncubator High-spec laboratory and office accommodation is available in the Norwich Bio-Incubator, a 20,000 sq ft purpose-built facility. Here, there are 12 extremely well appointed laboratories ranging in size from 155 to 400 sq ft, with attached office accommodation, and a range of communal facilities including meeting rooms and support laboratory. For further information, see www.norbio.com. NRP Innovation Centre The newly refurbished and customised 43,000 sq ft three storey building containing over 30 high quality office and laboratory units was opened in autumn 2010. The new facility is designed to attract growing businesses from all over the world involved in scientific research and innovation. These new offices and laboratories also provide follow-on space for existing small bio-tech and other science related companies that need room to expand, see www.nrpic.com. Business Support and Advice Services The NRP has a highly supportive environment for those new to business, or those more experienced looking to develop their business or change location. The park has a network of local corporate lawyers, accountants and tax advisers, marketing consultants, IT specialists, and bankers. Technology transfer at the John Innes Centre, Sainsbury Laboratory, and Institute of Food Research is generally managed through Plant Bioscience Limited (PBL) (www.pbltechnology.com). PBL is an independent technology management company specialising in life sciences, particularly green and white biotech, food technology and biomedical science. The University of East Anglia has a highly successful Research Enterprise and Engagement Office through which business can access a wide range of expertise through the UEA Enterprise Centre (www.ueaenterprisecentre.com). They also support collaborative research arrangements (including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and student placements in industry). The Intellectual Property company ip21 (www.ip21.co.uk) has a presence on the NRP and offers a full range of services including Patent, Trademark and Design Right services and a design innovation support consultancy. For the food sector IFR Extra (www.ifrextra.co.uk) undertakes short-term research work, consultancy and specialist analysis using the expertise and equipment of the Institute of Food Research. Technical Facilities and Services In addition to those named above, the NRP can offer:
Location  The NRP is based on the south-western outskirts of Norwich, the capital city of the East of England. The Park is located between the Norwich ring road, and the A47 Southern Bypass near to the junction with the A11. It is within 20 mins of Norwich International Airport - with several flights a day to Amsterdam, Manchester and Edinburgh for onward worldwide travel. There are twice-hourly trains to Cambridge and the rail journey to London takes less than 2 hours. By road, the NRP is 2 hours from London, 3 hours from Birmingham and 1 hour from Cambridge.Norwich is an accessible city which provides a great quality of life combined with the best elements of a modern city. The City Centre is one of the top 5 best retail centres in the UK has a wide variety of entertainment including three multiplex cinemas and an arts cinema, six theatres a large number of music venues and many restaurants. Norwich is one of the greenest cities in the U.K. with miles of riverside walks and cycle tracks, unique 1930's parks and acres of woodland running right into the city centre. The housing stock ranges from handsome Georgian and Victorian houses through 1930s semis and city-centre waterfront apartments to a number of new affordable housing estates on the city outskirts . Outside the city are market towns, villages, and miles of beautiful countryside, the Norfolk Broads and East Anglia's stunning coastline all within easy reach. History and Objectives The NRP was first conceived in the early 1960s, with the building of the University, and the relocation of the former John Innes Institute to Norwich. The Institute of Food Research also moved to the site soon after, followed by the Sainsbury Laboratory in 1988. The John Innes Centre was formed after the relocation of scientists from the former plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge and researchers from the Nitrogen Fixation Unit in Sussex. In 2001 a new Hospital was built on the NRP, which has teaching status in association with the University's Faculty of Health and School of Pharmacy. More recent additions to the site include The Genome Analysis Centre which opened in July 2009, the Wellcome funded Biomedical Research Centre, the Clinical Trials building at UEA and the Norwich Energy Laboratories. The NRP is Europe's leading single-site cluster for plant, microbial, food, health and environmental research. The NRP aims to build on this by attracting new partners to the site to collaborate in its research and to develop its vision for the site. The international agenda-setting research in Norwich is expressed in the major cross-NRP collaborations: the Earth and Life Systems Alliance and the Food and Health Alliance. Companies on Norwich Research Park include: | |
| Anglia DNA Bioservices Ltd AnSpec Consultancy Carbon Connections UK Ltd Chameleon Biosurfaces Ltd Dynamic Gastric Model Econ GasPlas Genome Enterprise Ltd IDna Genetics IFR Extra InCrops Ltd Inspiralis Ltd Intelligent Fingerprinting International Development UEA ip21 | John Innes Enterprises Key Forensic Services Ltd London Pharma Ltd Low Carbon Innovation Centre Ltd PBL Technology Procarta Biosystems ProtoPharma Ltd Swedish Biomimetics 3000 SYS Consulting Ltd Tridan Van Haren Publishing UEA Consulting Ltd UEA Enterprises Ltd Weatherquest |
News
From Lab to Market
Invitation to meet business angel investors at Norwich Research Park 26th April
View detailsWill Norwich Research Park win Innovation Award hat-trick?
Vaccine breakthrough and ‘super broccoli’ scientists tipped for top awards...
View details