Influencing Innovation Strategies
Southampton Science Park is the only UK science park asked to contribute to The Parliamentary Review 2018/19. This annual publication, launched yesterday to thousands of leading policymakers, has the strategic aim of raising standards through the sharing of best practice.
The Science Park article discusses the powerful role that science parks can play in reinvigorating and fast-tracking the UK’s economic progress globally. Unlike business parks, it argues, they are differentiated by the value-adding business support services they provide and their commitment to facilitating growth.
The article goes on to highlight three significant challenges that technology businesses – and more broadly, the UK’s innovation sector – face and suggests how policymakers might tackle these; in particular, the need for government to support innovative businesses through the provision of early stage capital that bridges the gap between founding capital and full investment.
Each year the release of The Parliamentary Review is marked with a reception at the Palace of Westminster. Speakers at the event held on Wednesday 4th September were Denis Lewis OBE and Andrew Neil, BBC and The Spectator journalist.
Attending on behalf of the Science Park, Dr Robin Chave commented: “We were delighted to be asked to contribute to this prestigious publication on behalf of science parks more generally because we’re very proud of the work that we do here and the success stories that are created amongst our business community. Amid these successes though, there’s much that government can do to support tech businesses looking to get a foothold on the world stage - and there’s never been a better time to do it!”
Read more at The Parliamentary Review.
