| St John's Innovation Centre Location Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0WS Contact Details Contact: Miranda Edwards Tel: 01223 420252 Email: info@stjohns.co.uk Website: www.stjohns.co.uk Introduction  St John's Innovation Centre was established by St John's College, part of the University of Cambridge, in 1987 to provide early-stage, knowledge-based companies with business advice, strategic consultancy, introductions and flexible accommodation. It was the first innovation centre of its kind in Europe and has become world-renowned for its success as a business incubator. The Centre is located at the heart of the Greater Cambridge technology cluster, in which it plays a pivotal role.The centre has a prime location on the northern fringe of Cambridge, conveniently situated just off the A14/A10 junction with ample parking and easy access to the A14 and M11 and a 50 minute train journey to London. History and Buildings The Park is situated on 21 acres of land which St John's College has owned since the 16th century. The concept of developing the Park was to encourage and facilitate the creation of knowledge-based businesses. The Park houses businesses which have come from all sources, including the University of Cambridge, other research and academic organisations, consultancies and spin-outs from other businesses. The Innovation Centre was built in 1987 with a total of 2,220 square metres. It was one of the first buildings which offered technology businesses the opportunity to obtain their own offices without making a long term financial commitment on the lease. The flexible easy-in, easy-out accommodation has proved very popular over the years. The success of the Centre led to an extension of the facilities in two phases and the Centre now offers 4,860 square metres of accommodation. Adjacent to the Innovation Centre is the Jeffreys Building, which was built in 1990 and provides 3,126 square metres to a number of businesses wanting larger accommodation and longer leases. St John's House was built in 1994 and is occupied by Cambridge Silicon Radio, a quoted company which spun out of Cambridge Consultants. Management  The Innovation Centre Managing Director is David Gill, a Cambridge Graduate who has extensive experience in working with early stage technology companies. David, as well as being a qualified barrister, has worked in Investment Banking – he has been Head of Innovation & Technology with HSBC and a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and immediately prior to joining St John's was a Director of a Venture Capital company focused on early-stage technology companies.Mission Statement St John's Innovation Centre exists to provide a dynamic and supportive incubation environment to accelerate the growth of ambitious innovative firms in the Cambridge region. It is privately owned and commercially managed. Tenants About 75 companies are located at SJIC, employing over 300 people, creating a vibrant community with an entrepreneurial spirit. Tenants are early-stage companies operating in a wide range of technologies. Unlike other innovation centres, the centre is also home to a number of companies offering services such as marketing, accountancy and legal services. This creates a diverse business community and encourages the cross-fertilisation of ideas. Expertise is provided in:
A number of highly successful Cambridge technology businesses have started life at the Centre, which works with many businesses across the Region, not just its tenants. Successful innovative firms including Autonomy Corporation PLC, RedGate Software Ltd and Jagex have occupied units in the past. Accommodation  The philosophy of the Innovation Centre is to provide security and flexibility to tenants, and the Centre therefore offers an easy-in, easy-out policy with renewable leases for three years and the option to break on one month's notice.The facilities are all-inclusive and offer high quality connectivity, reception, security, fax, photocopying, conferencing and exhibition space. There are six meeting rooms and a boardroom, which are well used and are free of charge to tenants. The Conferencing and Catering facilities at St John's Innovation Centre are ideal for all business events in the area, with an on-site restaurant and five Conference Rooms. The facilities were purpose-built to offer the most up-to-date rooms and facilities for all business needs: conferences, exhibitions, seminars, workshops, meetings and training courses. St John's Innovation Centre offers affordable facilities with capacity from 4 to 80 people. A common area, referred to as The Atrium, provides a relaxing environment for tenants and visitors with a comfortable seating area, 24-hour news channel, newspapers and books. Business Support The Centre and its team are well networked and closely linked with all the business support organisations in the area, having been instrumental in the creation of the Cambridge Technopole (www.cambridgetechnopole.org.uk). The team is also very close to business angel networks and investment community generally. The team provides a range of advice to businesses and regularly works with public sector schemes to support them. Tenants at the centre are able to utilise a number of business support opportunities. A monthly mingle is held to encourage the sharing of ideas, skills and expertise through networking with other tenants over coffee and cake. Local businesses sponsor these events, extending the link with tenants and companies in the local entrepreneurial community. Tenants are able to promote job vacancies on the St John's Innovation Centre website, gaining the attention of professional, qualified job seekers in the region. Employees based at St John's Innovation Park are automatic members of the Travel for Work Partnership. Not only does this mean access to services such as assistance for employers in creating a Travel Plan, but also all commuters get special discount on bicycles, bicycle accessories and train tickets. Tenants also have access to the Chaplaincy to People at Work Cambridgeshire (CPW), an independent registered charity with a Christian basis offering support and guidance. It seeks to work in any multi-faith workplace setting, offering impartial support and counselling and always respecting an organisation's diversity policy. Fostering Growth and Innovation St John's Innovation Centre delivers a number of government-funded programmes. Both the Understanding Finance for Business and Coaching for High Growth programmes are funded by the East of England Development Agency and delivered by St John's Innovation Centre, as part of the government-funded Solutions for Business programme. Understanding Finance for Business Understanding Finance for Business supports those looking to raise at least £10,000 funding. The programme helps businesses understand the different types of finance available and identify what is required for different types of funding. Mentoring is available for companies who are ready to apply or pitch for funding. For those looking to secure equity funding, the programme also offers support to help them prepare for pitching with a dry-run pitch to 'friendly' investors ahead of doing it for real. Coaching for High Growth The Coaching for High Growth programme is designed to help ambitious and forward thinking businesses unlock and sustain their high growth potential. The programme consists of a Growth Pathfinder master class and up to 4 days of one-to-one coaching, tailored to meet the company's needs. The master class helps identify barriers to growth and develop a tailored action plan. The Programme is designed to be action-orientated and identify barriers to growth. In other words, the coach supports with structure, direction and defining targets or milestones but it is the business that takes ownership of a progressive growth plan, developed and kick-started over a period of 3-5 months. Coaching for High Growth is open to businesses in the East of England that have: been trading for at least one year, a turnover in the last year of between £100k and £10m, the potential to achieve sales growth of 20% or above per annum for a 3 year period, a team of at least 4 but fewer than 250 staff and aspirations and drive to take their business to the next level. Inspiration for Growth Thanks to funding provided by the Greater Cambridge Partnership, St John's Innovation Centre is able to offer free advice and support to high tech and high-growth businesses based within Cambridgeshire, and who have aspirations to grow. The support can be either in the form of attending focused events on issues of relevance to a growing business, or it could be 1:1 sessions with an experienced adviser. These individual sessions could cover a wide range of business topics from business planning, growth strategies to marketing and social media. The service can be accessed by any hi-growth business based within Cambridgeshire that has a turnover of less than €10m and employs fewer than 50 people. Memberships and Accreditations St John's Innovation Centre has been a member of the United Kingdom Science Park Association since 1987, and a member of United Kingdom Business Incubation (UKBI) since 1999. In December 2010, St John's Innovation Centre was granted full membership of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN) and thus became the first accredited 'BIC' (Business and Innovation Centre) in the East of England, joining a network of only 10 such accredited organisations within the UK. SJIC is also a member of the EU-funded Achieve More project (AMP). AMP brings together 9 partners in 5 countries to improve the prospects of Knowledge Intensive Service (KIS) firms through enhanced cooperation among clusters, incubators and investors. AMP has assisted in raising over €20m to be invested in KIS firms and brought together over 500 business incubators and innovation professionals from more than 75 countries around the world. Further Information St John's regularly hosts visitors from overseas and provides far more than just accommodation. A full list of tenants is available on the St John's web site: www.stjohns.co.uk, and further information is available from Miranda Edwards, email medwards@stjohns.co.uk, tel 01223 420252. |
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