AberInnovation

Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus (AberInnovation) provides world-leading facilities and expertise within the biotechnology, agri-tech, and food and drink sectors. Set in stunning scenery between the Cambrian Mountains and the Irish Sea, their recently opened £40.5m Campus offers an ideal environment for business and academic collaboration to flourish. We’ve been speaking to them about how the campus came about and how it’ll foster growth and development in the future…

Q. You finished the first phase of your development back in August, what can we expect from the second phase of development?

We are now in commissioning phase for scientific equipment and this is going well. As a fully operational Campus by the end of 2020, our mission is to attract and support ambitious, collaborative companies to work on the R&D behind innovative products and services in feed, food and fuel.

With our fully equipped facilities and co-located with experts from Aberystwyth University we aim to accelerate collaborative innovation. [emaillocker id=”71749″]

AberInnovation allows us to address some of the 21st Century’s most pressing grand challenges, including climate change mitigation, sustainability and food and energy security. Successful innovation in these areas will play a critical role in fostering a sustainable knowledge-based bioeconomy.

Q. There is a strong focus on agritech, biotechnology and food science at AberInnovation, how can this foster industry cooperation?

I know it is said a lot, but there really has never been a better time or stronger foundation upon which to build and sustain a world-leading bioeconomy in the UK. With the threats posed by climate change to our food security we have the facilities to address so many of the challenges – both short and long term. We believe that the innovation opportunities within agri-food are endless at present, and these will foster industry cooperation, inspiring and developing entrepreneurship. Greater cooperation between universities and industries will further facilitate knowledge transfer and inspire the production of new knowledge and technologies.

Q. You’ve received £23m in funding from the Welsh Government  through the European Region Development Fund, how vital is government funding in fostering new technology hubs?

AberInnovation is proud to be supported by Wales European Funding Office, UKRI – BBSRC and Aberystwyth University. Government funding is vital for building and pump priming new innovation hubs across the UK, from the region’s local economy perspective and for the UK as a whole. Government funding fills that gap where the private sector finds it difficult to take the financial risks on investing in R&D infrastructure. As we look to overcome and prosper post Covid-19 and Brexit, innovation is at the forefront of the Government’s agenda, to continue to boost the knowledge economy – rightly so…

Q. How did the University’s international reputation and specialisms determine the focus of the campus?

Aberystwyth University is world renown for crop breeding and livestock health. Yes, this track record shaped the focus of the AberInnovation capabilities as the academic expertise of the university is fundamental to way companies would chose to use any translational facilities that we build. Industry wants to work with the best in academia in their specialty and so it made complete sense to add to the Aberystwyth University research facilities with translational capabilities that allow the university to stay with its company collaborators for longer on the product development journey.

Q. How key is academic and commercial cooperation to creating new scientific breakthroughs?

In most of the things we do, we believe collaboration is key as there is knowledge exchange during academic-industry collaboration – it’s not a one way street. Transforming the results of scientific research into new commercial products requires a steer from the market place and it can be a lengthy and complex process involving a broad range of factors. The more longer terms, strategic partnerships we can create between researchers and industry working closely together the greater our chances to succeed in maximising the social and economic benefits of new ideas/products.

Q. What potential is there within Wales for creating wider science & technology clusters?

Wales is brimming with entrepreneurs. What we can continue to improve is how we make technical facilities available to them in Wales to support them in their business growth goals. The tried and tested way to do this is to co-locate capabilities into clusters, so that we create communities that entrepreneurs can easily engage with – and that offer a group of like-minded individuals and inspirational infrastructure to help them on their way to market.  Wales has the benefit of being a close community with pockets of complementary, world class expertise across the Principality. We can (and are) creating local clusters, as well as pan-Wales networks – both will work to build our STEM-based economy.     

Q. How was your experience at the recent Science & Innovation Parks Conference?

Brilliant! It was great to hear about all of the different developments which are happening across the UK to strengthen the UK’s knowledge-based economy and a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our brand-new AberInnovation facilities and capabilities among such a well-established group of leading science parks!

We are the new kid on the block but we plan to learn from others and the conference was an ideal opportunity to do that.

You can find out more about AberInnovation here: https://aberinnovation.com/

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