PERSPECTIVES ISSUE 01 2017

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In our post-Brexit world it is critically
important for the UK to promote and
develop its clusters, which in many
areas are truly exemplary on a global
scale in terms of knowledge and
capability. Equally, for developers
and investors to maximise the value
of their estates, they must look to
understand what drives a cluster
and the critical factors needed to
encourage growth of a successful
ecosystem.
The old style ‘build it and they
will come’ approach is not only high
risk, but fails to address the dynamic
opportunity that clusters represent.
New developments should target
specific sectors and ensure that the
means exist to focus on community,
networks, knowledge transfer and
innovation support.
The Golden
Research
Triangle
between
Oxford,
Cambridge
and London
invests more
in R&D than
any other
sector in the
UK and
accounts for
around 30%
of the UK’s
total R&D
spend
Med City
Med City was launched in 2014 as
an initiative to enhance collaboration
between London’s three premier
life sciences academic institutions
and promote the broader Golden
Research Triangle. It represents a
great opportunity for interdisciplinary
collaboration to help maintain the
UK’s position at the forefront of
health-tech development in Europe.
At the heart of Med City is the
Francis Crick Institute in London.
Funded to the tune of £1bn and
opened in 2016, the institute is a
partnership between Cancer Research
UK, Imperial College London,
King’s College London , the Medical
Research Council, University College
London and the Wellcome Trust. It is
envisaged the Institute will eventually
be the biggest single biomedical
laboratory in Europe with 1,500 staff,
of which 1,250 will be scientists, and a
budget of over £100m5.
Midlands Motorsport Valley
The M40 corridor connecting
Silverstone, Banbury, Coventry
and the West Midlands has been
dubbed Motorsport Valley. It hosts
the majority of the Formula One
teams and their suppliers, and has
businesses that dominate the design
and manufacture of components for
high-end motor racing.
The area has great infrastructure
including world-famous race tracks
at Rockingham and Silverstone, wind
tunnels and good transport links. At
its centre sits the Motorsport Industry
Association (MIA), which promotes
the sector internationally, runs events,
works with universities to develop
tailored courses and advocates the
creation of a government-led UK
motorsport unit.
With its glamour and mass appeal,
F1 attracts some of the best graduates
across the UK and internationally. Its
high tech knowledge feeds into the
wider UK motor industry including
companies such as Jaguar Land
Rover (Solihull and Coventry), BMW
(Oxford), Rolls Royce (Birmingham)
and further afield to Honda (Swindon)
and Toyota (Derby).
Around 4,000 firms operating
in precision engineering are
based within a one hour radius
of Silverstone. They benefit from
collaboration and competition from
within the cluster which allows them
to adapt their innovative technologies
and products for a variety of
industries in addition to automotive.
Engineering companies enjoying
concentric competition include big
names like Ducati, Porsche and Lotus
as well as many smaller companies. Regional biotech hubs
Regional hubs are using economic
incentives to develop biotech
clusters of their own. Alderley, for
example, has inherited strengths in
oncology and anti-infective drugs
from AstraZeneca. South Wales is
focusing on cell therapy and medical
technology. And in the midlands,
Nottingham’s BioCity occupies the
former Boots R&D facility where
ibuprofen was developed.
Two of the biggest UK medical
charities, the Wellcome Trust and
Cancer Research UK, have research
centres in Birmingham where £24m
has been invested in the new Institute
of Translational Medicine focused on
clinical trials.
University Ranking
University of Cambridge 2
University of Oxford 3
Imperial College London 4
University College London 17
King’s University London 44
WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKING BY
SUBJECT – BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (2015)
AnEvolving Opportunity
Automotive and
Motorsport Clusters
07
LEAD STORY