Building a sustainable science community NETPark

Jun 30 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

At the centre of the North East's fast-growing science industries is the Netpark in County Durham. As its second phase opens today, John Hill finds out why it is so successful.

SOME reactions require a catalyst. Sometimes you have the ingredients you need and all that’s required is something to make the magic happen.

In the North East’s case, the challenge is to breathe new life into an economy wracked by the economic downturn as it tries to rebuild its economy in the wake of decades of industrial decline, bringing jobs to a region that has been ravaged by the loss of its industrial heart in past decades.

Scientific innovation is hoped to fuel some of the region’s economic renaissance and County Durham’s NETPark will have a significant role.

The Sedgefield science park was built in 2005 on the principle that, while science companies can be extremely sturdy when fully formed, they are frail and need nurturing at a very early age.

As a result, NETPark offers one-to-one workshops and business coaching, affordable offices and sophisticated technology. Its first tenants were from the universities in Durham and Sunderland, but it has also attracted businesses from abroad including recent arrival Advance Imaging Systems.

Catherine Johns is director of innovation development at the County Durham Development Company (CDCC), which developed and manages the park. She says: “I think it’s still quite an even split. The benchmark of an incubator is that you get most of your businesses from a 30-mile radius. But having those from outside the area is also essential.

“If you say you’re just going to help the North East then you’re missing a huge trick because of all the skills available outside. Our interest is in building a sustainable community at NETPark.”

Confidence in NETPark is high, and the park has been full for two years. The interest is such that extra space was needed and phase two, which opened to new tenants in 2009, is filling up fast.

By the time the STS-132 space shuttle crew attend the official opening today, (Weds) it will be 70% full. The CDDC hopes to be able to submit a planning application for more space imminently.

Johns said: “We’re very pleased to be able to get the new space. It’s about 2,000 square metres of incubator space for high-growth technology.

“They get constant support and space and they can expand and not expand as they wish. We opened the Incubator phase one in 2005. Kromek was the first tenant and they have gone from two people to 50.”

Another important tenant in the park is the Printed Electronics Technology Centre, a division of the Centre for Process Industries which opened in 2008. The design and development facility specialises in the commercialisation of R&D and has forged links with nearby companies such as Spennymoor’s Thorn Lighting.

Johns said: “We get quite a few queries because of the location of Petec and Durham University. It’s split quite evenly in Europe, and we have a few from China and India. NETPark is following in the footsteps of traditional science parks, but where we’re blazing a trail is in community outreach.”

Today the park will be visited by the STS-132 mission crew, who spent a week at the International Space Station in May. The team, including British-born NASA astronaut Piers Sellers and commander Kenneth Ham, will share their experiences with a group of pupils from nearby Fishburn Primary School. Organisers say the visit will help youngsters appreciate the wider uses of the study of physics.

It is also working with NETPark Research Institute occupant Durham University to bring Brainwave 10 to the park from July 15 to 17.

Brainwave will provide County Durham students with lectures, tours and workshops involving exploding custard and stamp rockets. Among NETPark’s other projects is Recharging the Earth, which encourages primary and secondary school children to think about sustainable technology.

Johns says: “We need to make sure that children are inspired to study science in the future.”

The CDDC has also set up NETPark Net as a virtual science network for businesses, allowing companies access to networking opportunities and advice.

Johns says: “If someone’s just set up a business but can’t afford an address, we can give them a virtual address. Netpark will still be a location in Sedgefield, but it’s about open innovation. It’s an acknowledgment that innovation doesn’t recognise boundaries.”

The overall aim is to boost business and jobs in County Durham and the rest of the region, much like the model of the project across the Pond.

Johns says: “The inspiration for NETPark was a research triangle park in North Carolina. For every job in that park three and a half are created off the park. That’s how we’re going to change the county. If we’re looking at 10,000 jobs in the park, we’ll need at least 35,000 jobs off it.

“I think there are two global drivers. One is sustainability. We’re excited about that in that Petec is already helping companies to bring things to market, such as advanced lighting which doesn’t emit any heat at all. Another global trend is increasing homeland security. Kromek’s bottle scanners will make air travel safer.”