Clustering provides technological breeding ground

A DTI Global Watch Service product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Nov 13, 2002

Successful technological innovation in key areas such as computing and biosciences the basis for new companies that can develop and sell new products is a fundamental driver of economic growth.

Successful technological innovation in key areas such as computing and biosciences the basis for new companies that can develop and sell new products is a fundamental driver of economic growth.

One of the ways this can be made to happen is through "clustering", the deliberate policy of siting such companies close to each other - sometimes at a regional level, sometimes as near-neighbours on science and technology "parks".

This allows them, for example, to benefit from the provision of shared resources and the pooling of their own expertise.

Two countries that are keen exponents of this approach are the UK and Sweden.

The first science parks appeared in the UK at the beginning of the 1970s; there are now over 50 such locations in the country, and in Sweden they appeared a little over a decade later.

So what have both countries learned about the operation of science parks since then and how can they co-operate in pursuit of mutual benefits? These questions were explored at a conference at the DTI in London on 5th November organised by the DTI's International Technology Service, where speakers included Lord Sainsbury, the UK's Minister for Science and Innovation, and Dr Mats Bergquist, the Swedish Ambassador to the UK.

The next two days also saw intensive "partnership brokering" between groups of UK and Swedish business people in Cambridge and Reading.

The Cambridge location was St John's Innovation Centre, a 19-acre site to the north of the city owned by St John's College of Cambridge University.

Walter Herriot, Managing Director of the centre, confirmed to the conference the importance of being close to a source of academic expertise.

New companies, he pointed out, are often started by academics who have spotted the commercial potential of university research.

The ability to do so in a familiar location that allows continued close contact with their university can both facilitate further access to research developments and provide a sense of continuity and stability.

Being located on a science park also provides a range of other benefits.

Some can be very straightforward; such as the provision of highly flexible leases that do not lock startup ventures into long-term payments for office and laboratory space and shared resources for routine, but necessary, support services such as printing or office cleaning.

Others are more intangible but equally vital.

One is the ability to offer the smart, attractive working environment of a science park to graduate recruits.

Another is simply the degree of credibility as a serious business enterprise a new company can derive from being located on a science park.

The importance of this factor was confirmed by a Swedish contributor to the conference, Dr Magnus Carstam, Managing Director of Ideon, founded just under 20 years ago in the city of Lund as Sweden's first ever science park.

Enterprises that want to move into the park must demonstrate to a panel that includes representatives of both the park's management and existing tenants that they are committed to a high level of research and development.

This is vital to ensuring that the park remains a place where genuine innovation is likely to occur.

As proof of the effectiveness of this approach Magnus Carstam mentioned an early tenant of the Ideon science park.

It was, he said, "a company called Ericsson who had an idea about cellphones".

Of course simply being on a science park does not guarantee success for a new company.

But there are genuine indications that it can be a real help.

Since the St John's Centre was founded 13 years ago, for instance, around 200 companies have passed through it.

Of these around 150 are still in business - a significantly higher success rate than is normal in the inevitably risky business of getting high-tech start-up companies off the ground.