Bosses at the site, which is home to 93 businesses and more than 900 employees, have said it is almost at capacity so will now be looking overseas and have highlighted China as having potential for future growth.
The UNIP already has a sister incubator project at the University’s Ningbo Campus and operations director Dr Mark Tock said: “What could be better for businesses than having the option of being able to test their products in China and for their Chinese counterparts to do the same here?”
A vision for UNIP is set to be launched later this year as part of the anniversary celebrations.
UNIP already includes businesses among carbon neutral laboratories for sustainable chemistry, a Geospatial Institute, an Advanced Manufacturing Building and is soon to open a Research Acceleration and Demonstration building.
Adjacent to the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus and situated on the former factory site of bike manufacturer Raleigh, UNIP has eight research institutes (from Aerospace to Mental Health) and an entrepreneurship lab supporting student and alumni-led start-ups.
Tock, who has been head of UNIP for more than two years, said: “Businesses that have been at the Park since the beginning could see the university’s ambition when we created the Park in 2008.
“They have grown and developed alongside it, and many of them today report an annual turnover of more than £63m (2017).
“We’ve recently attracted entrepreneurs from California’s film industry and our Ingenuity Centre is going from strength to strength.
“We’ve just completed the first incubator project for the UK Space Agency and delivered slightly over target which has been a massive coup and been rewarded by further funding.
“Providing a working environment which helps the businesses on-site to develop and achieve their goals through making the most of their proximity to cutting-edge research, brings benefits to both University and client.
“We act as landlords and our clients buy services from the University, enhancing its reputation through the projects carried out.
“One of the best examples of this is the work we’ve done with Romax Technology. UNIP introduced them to our careers service at the time when the University changed its approach to sandwich years in industry for students. That proved to be a real game changer.”
Submitted on 16/02/2018
