Annual Report 2003
| Annual Statistics 2003: figures to year end 2002 (PowerPoint document) During the last 12 months UKSPA has continued to raise the profile of the work of science parks in the UK, and has worked in partnership with other organisations engaged in economic development, to stimulate technology transfer. In December, the UKSPA Board took the opportunity to review our business strategy at a Board away-day, and concluded that our mission and vision are sound, and will continue to drive the way we operate on a daily basis. There were several key issues arising from our deliberations, not least that we should remain to be a membership-based organisation, and continue to exist to serve the needs of our membership. However, it also became clear that for UKSPA to become a more effective body in the future, we must find ways to secure accurate information about the performance of our tenants, and to provide meaningful client needs analysis on a local, regional, and national level. Only in this way will the Association be able to secure project funding that can be used to support the work of science park managers. Over the last year we have worked on a number of projects new to the Association –albeit on limited budgets, and limited resources. Pulling the trick of developing new services, on little funding, whilst making a profit, seems to be a daily feature of UKSPA life. We have had some successes, and indeed have been involved in some not so successful ventures, but we will continue to maximise the possibilities that are open to us. Whilst more funding has become available from the Small Business Service and from commercial sponsors such as British Telecom, we will always need more funding to achieve all of our objectives. One way we have increased our efficiency over the last period is focusing more on energy on project management, and less time on Association administration. This process has been accelerated with the retirement of Chris Emery, and the opening of new offices in Chesterford Research Park, near Cambridge. Chris has been replaced by Roz Bird, a Business Development Manager, who will be working with us to manage projects and to increase income form external sources. The Association’s reliance on membership funding has dropped from around 70 per cent to about 30 per cent of total income. Whilst we believe this is a healthy balance to have, the Association does continue to operate on very tight margins, with little financial flexibility. The Board believe it is prudent to retain a reasonable level of reserves, and to strike an in-year balanced budget. I am pleased to report that we managed a balanced budget during the year, despite marked volatility due to increased turnover, more projects, and more erratic cashflow. As mentioned briefly above, the information requirements of UKSPA from its membership are paramount. We receive regular requests for information from our members, central and regional government and inward investment missions etc. If I have one cause for concern, it is that we do not receive an enormous amount of feedback from members regarding information requests, and the information that is collected is not necessarily used in the most effective way. We will be looking for more effective ways to collect and use data over the next year. There are many reasons for this – not least that you are all busy managing your own increasingly demanding businesses – but I will not give up trying to get more. The research programme has given us a significant amount of new data that we must now use to increase investment. As you are no doubt aware, the theme of the annual conference in 2003 will centre on the results and recommendations of the research project. The dissemination of that data, and the debate that will inevitably surround the results, will give us all an opportunity to benchmark performance, and to enhance our current business strategies. During the year we launched the new UKSPA periodical, which we have timed to coincide with our members meetings. The first two editions have been very well received from both inside and outside the Association. The periodical aims to be informative and a useful reference tool for science park operators, and also for science park tenants who have valuable experiences to share. Over time, we intend to give the opportunity to all members to profile the work of their own parks. A further development for the periodical is the insertion of this annual report so that it reaches a wider audience. We are also refreshing the look of our website, which in its current form still continues to receive an enormous amount of traffic. The new site will attract hopefully attract the attention of even more tenants and organisations over the coming year and provide them with the information they need as we continue to build our profile. One exciting new development is a new search engine. The search engine is being developed exclusively for use by science parks and their tenants. It will hold a database of companies and contacts on science parks – an invaluable business tool. We would encourage any park that hasn’t supplied data for the new database to do so as soon as possible. Finally, our Annual Conference in May at the Royal Society was entitled ‘Post Incubation Support’. It attracted an audience from a variety of backgrounds and raised a critical issue that does not seem to have been taken up by other agencies. The Board intend to make an annual conference a special feature of the UKSPA year and has given appropriate support and resource to ensure we always can. Acknowledgment I am very grateful to UKSPA members, the Board and our many Business Affiliates who have worked with us over the last year to make the Association what it is today. I would also like to thank our sponsors for their continuing support, without whom UKSPA would be a much less effective Association. Paul Wright September 2004 |