NETPark's momentum
Jul 30 2009 By Stewart Watkins
MOMENTUM is a word regularly used in the media – particularly in sports reporting. England apparently have momentum going into today’s Ashes clash at Edgbaston after winning at Lords for the first time in 75 years. Durham are definitely using the momentum of last year’s County Championship result to set up the opportunity for a rare back-to-back double.
Momentum would also be an entirely appropriate word for the ongoing development of the North East’s premier science park, NETPark.
A decade ago, NETPark was nothing more than the scrubby grounds surrounding a disused psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Sedgefield, County Durham.
Now, it is a bustling hub for the commercialisation of science and technology of which the entire region can be proud.
Tuesday’s announcement that Central Government and One North East are investing £20m to develop further the Printable Electronic Technology Centre (PETEC) based at NETPark demonstrates graphically this momentum.
Durham County Council deserves immense credit for having the vision to convert the former Winterton Hospital site into NETPark with the aim of replacing the declining former industries with a new self-sustaining knowledge-based economy.
County Durham Development Company (CDDC), which manages NETPark on behalf of the council, has been working hard to turn this vision into reality, and since 2005 when the first building (Durham University’s Research Institute) was opened, NETPark has continued to go from strength to strength.
PETEC is a remarkable facility which we were delighted to welcome as part of the science park in March of this year.
If NETPark had not been developed by the county council the initial £9.5m investment and subsequent £20m would undoubtedly have gone elsewhere in the world.
Alongside PETEC, in recent months we have expanded the NETPark Incubator by 150% and the steel work is rising from the ground for a new facility capable of housing the international headquarters of a technology company.
Nearby, considerable investment has been made in laying new infrastructure to open the park’s boundaries further to keep pace with the ongoing development.
Through PETEC and the high-tech developments elsewhere on NETPark the North East stands at the cutting edge of a number of technologies which could change the world.
Stewart Watkins is managing director of the County Durham Development Company which runs NETPark.
