The East of England Technopole

Download East of England technopole report (PDF)

The East of England Technopole is the group of publicly funded organiSations operating in the East of England whose mission is to support enterprise and innovation.
The group includes the directors of Enterprise Hubs and managers of relevant programmes.
The overall mission of the Technopole is to improve the range and quality of facilities and business support available in the Region, particularly for companies based on technology or who are perceived to be capable of fast growth.

The objectives of the Technopole Group are to: -

• Encourage the flow of information on new projects and initiatives between members of the Group and to work together for the benefit of business  customers.
• Identify the key organizations involved in business support in the East of England for the purpose of accurately signposting business customers.
• Publicise the advantages and opportunities in the East of England in order to attract and retain appropriate businesses to the Region.
• Identify gaps in the provision of support for business and to lobby for resources to fill such gaps.

The East of England Technopole Group includes:-

• Babraham Research Campus (Cambridgeshire)
• BioPark (Hertfordshire)
• Butterfield Green Innovation Centre (Luton)
• Colworth Science Park (Bedfordshire)
• East of England Production Innovation Centre (EPIC)
• Environment East (Peterborough)
• Health Enterprise East (Cross Regional)
• Hauser Forum (Cambridge)
• BTC Stevenage Enterprise Hub
• Hethel Engineering Centre (Norwich)
• Building Research Establishment (BRE) (Watford)
• OrbisEnergy (Lowestoft)
• Norwich Research Park (Norwich)
• Renewables East (Norfolk)
• St John's Innovation Centre (Cambridge)
• Innovation Martlesham (Ipswich)

In addition the Group includes organisations running programmes that are of benefit to knowledge-based businesses within the region, including Business Link East, The Association of Universities in the East of England and PA Consulting Group (as deliverers of the Manufacturing, Design and Innovation Advisory Services in the East of England.
 

East of England Regional Technopole Report

The 'East of England Technopole Report' which was developed in partnership with  key regional innovation stakeholders. The report was initiated on the back of the Cambridge Technopole Report. It was recognised that we have many innovation and technology strengths in our region which we should acknowledge and be proud of.
 
The purpose of this document is to inform and inspire businesses, policy makers, investors and other stakeholders with an existing or potential interest in the services available regionally affecting knowledge transfer and other forms of innovation.  The aim is to publicise the advantages and opportunities in the East of England in order to attract and retain appropriate businesses in the region.

The report provides an overview of examples of centres of innovation and enterprise activity ('technopoles') across the East of England. Specifically the report is focused upon providing:

• For visitors and potential investors: a summary of the region-wide ecosystem of innovation and enterprise activities within which global start-ups have been nurtured, and into which multinational corporations have directed investment to support their open innovation activities.
• For regional firms: information on the type and location of the diverse and complementary support services available for innovation and enterprise across the region.
• For policy makers and support service providers: information on the mechanisms currently being used to develop the region-wide network of support, and to highlight areas of success and on-going need.

You will see the report itself draws on publicly-available data and is structured around the following:

• An introduction to the economy of the East of England and the mechanisms for supporting innovation and enterprise.
• An overview of selected organisations and activities focused upon supporting innovation and enterprise (eg enterprise hubs, universities and research institutes, science parks and incubators, technology consultants, investors, and professional support service providers).  
• Links to sources of further information

The report is not intended to be a directory of business support provision in the East of England. Numerous examples of such directories already exist and a selection of these can be found at the end of the report. The idea is to identify key organisations involved in business support in the East of England for the purpose of accurately signposting business customers.

Download East of England technopole report (PDF)