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The Exeter Science Park Centre is
filling up as new tenants move into dedicated work space in this purpose-built
centre for fast growth businesses. Not
just anyone can rent space in these new bespoke premises nor indeed on the rest
of the Exeter Science Park: the applicant’s business must involve significant Research
& Development (R & D) within the business model to qualify as a
prospective tenant.
The reason for this is that science
parks operate as centres of collaboration and open innovation between the
private sector and the local knowledge base. In the case of Exeter, the
knowledge base includes the Met Office and a Global Top 100 university. In
terms of the private sector, whilst Exeter does have some significant global
players, there has not been a distinctive sectoral focus in the area but there
is a strong entrepreneurial tendency, especially in tech and data
analytics.
Gerry Shattock, general manager of the Science
Park, says: “It feels like we are getting critical mass in the Centre. We are starting to see a steady stream of
like-minded people joining the exciting companies who have already located
themselves here. I am very pleased with the quality of the people coming
in. This is good for Exeter, good for
Devon and good for all those talented graduates who will be looking for jobs in
years to come.”
The latest companies to
take premises in the Exeter Science Park Centre include Dashboard, Concept
First, Koncept and Routeshoot. More announcements are
expected shortly.
Work is also progressing well on a landmark building to house the third phase of the Met Office’s new Cray High Performance Computer within the Exeter Science Park. Being developed by Willmott Dixon, construction is due to be completed in autumn 2016.
Total project cost of the new computer is £97million and the first two phases are now operational at the Met Office’s HQ on the Exeter Business Park. These two phases taken together are six times faster than the previous high performance computer and represent the largest operational supercomputer platform in Europe. Once the final phase is installed and operational at the Science Park, the ‘enhanced processing power of the ‘supercomputer’ will increase to 3million calculations per second for every man, woman and child on the planet. That’s more than 23,000 trillion calculations per second! This will help the Met Office to protect life and property and will also enable the organisation to turn more science into services for the benefit of government, business and the public.
Adjacent to the main computer hall will be a collaboration building. This hub will allow other businesses to develop commercial applications for weather data. The location of the most powerful weather computer in the world in Exeter is a huge vote of confidence both in the Met Office and in Exeter as the place to do high performance computing and big data analysis.
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In November 2015, £10m of
funding was secured in principle through the Government’s Growth Deal 2
initiative for the delivery of three high quality, bespoke buildings, including
two grow-on buildings and a statement building within a Global Environmental Future
Campus. Final confirmation of the funding is expected in April.
The new buildings will be
located in both phases of the Exeter Science Park with construction work
starting at the end of the year and space available to rent in early 2018.
As part of their ongoing Exeter
Connects initiative, Flybe announced a new Exeter to Norwich service which was introduced on 24 March 2016. This is the first new air link in the country to be supported by
the Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund.
This
service will be operating daily (except Sat) from 24th Mar - 28th Oct
2016. More details from: www.flybe.com
WiFi SPARK, the UK’s fastest growing
managed WiFi provider has doubled its workforce in just over year since
relocating to Exeter.
Previously based at Heathfield just
outside of Newton Abbot, the firm moved to Matford Business Park with the help
of Exeter City Council, to open larger offices and new workshop space, now
filled with more than 40 full time staff.
WiFi SPARK, whose clients include the
National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic
Park, National Portrait Gallery in London and Plymouth University was launched
in 2003 by Chief Executive Officer Matt O’Donovan whose original ambition was
to install WiFi at Marinas across the UK.
Matt’s ambition has since grown to
include the provision of WiFi to a range of sectors including retail,
hospitality, healthcare, museums, transport and education facilities. The team
at WiFi SPARK now provides bespoke services that include unique and branded
user platforms and management systems, with one client as far away as
Australia.
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If you’ve been into Exeter recently, or read the local press, you may have noticed the appearance of a new and ambitious project, led by the newly formed community interest company, Exeter City Futures. The project has received cross-party support and Exeter City Council is a founding member of this company, which is made up of a consortium of companies from both the public and private sector.
The premise of the project is that digital
connectivity and the technology in our hands are providing us with the chance,
as never before, to really understand the problems that cities face. These
technologies will now lead to the design of elegant and innovative solutions,
that allow us to re-imagine our cities for the future.
To kick off a debate about the future of
our cities, Exeter City Futures are reaching out to the community to ask them
to have their say.
‘There are few things more powerful than
when people join together; a group of people with one common goal can achieve
great things. Here at Exeter City Futures we have a clear goal: to transform
Exeter into a sustainable city of the future, setting an example for others
around the world.
But we need you all on board. A city can
only gear up for change if its citizens are together. We need your help to get as many surveys
submitted as possible. We are aiming to have 10,000 submissions by September
2016.
So before we do anything, we want to hear
from as many of you, the people of Exeter, as possible. What do you love about
Exeter? What really frustrates you? What big ideas do you have for the future?
Our "Have your Say" survey will only take a few minutes and it is
your opportunity to shape the future of your city.
Please visit www.exetercityfutures.com click to
‘Have Your Say’ and then share it with as many people as possible.’
It's official – we are on the
UK’s technology map! This is a
reflection of work being carried out by companies like Crowdcube, Black Swan, ATASS
and others who are using digital
technology to find innovative solutions to modern problems. In the latest
report employment in the tech industries in the Exeter and Newton Abbot area is
reported to be up by 61% during the period 2011 - 2014.
The most comprehensive analysis of the UK’s digital tech
economy, this report finds the sector has a strong impact on employment nationwide
and is creating highly-paid job opportunities, accounting for 1.56 million jobs
across the UK, including nearly 11,500 in the Exeter area.
You can download the Tech
nation report here: http://bit.ly/1QU8mU7
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