Science Shaping Economy

Jane Holt, Southampton Science Park Business Development Director, was delighted to speak at the Science and Innovation Parks Development Conference, held at the Royal Society of Medicine on 8^th September.

This event shone a light on how science and innovation communities are playing a vital role in the country’s ability to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic and emerging opportunities in this thriving sector which adds £74 billion GVA to the UK economy.

After participating in a session about How Science and Innovation Developments Shape Place and Economy, Jane reflected on how interest and development in science and innovation parks over the past five years has grown dramatically and shows no sign of abating.

“There are a number of new innovation centres that didn’t even exist five years ago, and this signals how healthy the sector is now and will be, moving forward”, she said. “I think part of the reason for this is the speed at which we dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to other countries: it demonstrated how UK life sciences in particular, live up to global perceptions of excellence. As a result, the government’s industrial strategy is now firmly focused on life sciences, injecting investment into companies that have the potential to disrupt and scale-up.”

“Of course this is all in a day’s work for us here at Southampton Science Park which has always been focused on company growth journeys through a quite unique combination of business support coupled with a flexible approach to accommodating growing businesses.”