Sci-Tech Daresbury reports strong finish to 2018

The award winning campus continues to attract leading science and technology companies to the campus and the raft of new businesses means that it is now home to around 140 companies.

Other highlights in the last year include the approval for Sci-Tech Daresbury’s next phase of development, Project Violet. The scheme was granted planning permission in early 2018 and the campus has since started a tender process for a selection of a contractor to build the new 43,000 sq. ft. grade A office buildings.

One of 26 companies to locate to the campus in 2018 was North West medtech company C-Major Medical. The company relocated its operations to the campus' renowned Innovation Centre in January 2018 and has enjoyed significant growth during that period.

C-Major Medical has secured a trio of patents for its innovative syringe technology in Japan, Taiwan and Europe and has cited its new location as having a huge impact on its growth.

The company’s leading CHoRD™ technology targets the multi-billion dollar retracting syringe market and aims to assist in the prevention of needle-stick injuries (NSIs) and infectious contamination.

Over the last 12 months, it has received almost £200,000 of funding to develop its novel syringe solution. This included  £100,000 Investment Accelerator Grant Award from Innovative UK and a further £45,000 convertible loan from UKI2S  (previously the Rainbow Seed Fund).

Steve Dobson, commercial director at C-Major Medical, said: “We moved in at Sci-Tech Daresbury in January 2018 and it was a very simple and rapid process for us. We were up and running within 48 hours.

“Prior to moving in to The Innovation Centre, we’d been visiting Sci-Tech Daresbury’s business breakfast networking evens  for around six or seven years and during that time we met a lot of useful contacts, many of which we continue to work with now.

“We’ve enjoyed many highlights over the last 12 months since our move to the campus, including being awarded the Investment Accelerator Grant Award and a convertible loan from UKI2S. This was a very significant milestone for us because for the first time ever we had a seed fund investor who has a vested interest in us raising more funds and, crucially, with the contacts to assist us.”

John Downes, group chief executive of Langtree and chair of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture company, said: “C-Major Medical’s arrival and subsequent success over the last 12 months is a fantastic example of a North-West company leading the way in developing the next generation of novel technology for the medtech sector, here at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

“We were delighted to welcome the company to The Innovation Centre at the start of 2018 and since then, we’ve enjoyed watching the business go from strength to strength. Our values of providing unique collaboration opportunities and scientific expertise and access to the world-class technical facilities and expertise create a special place for companies to develop and expand which a further 25 companies are experiencing.

“Collaboration is key and we continue to promote innovation between our tenants, from local SMEs to international businesses, academic institutions and the public sector. We’re now looking forward to another busy year of growth ahead with a number of companies already moving onto the site in January and it’s our ambition that the campus will continue to develop and attract even more companies in 2019.”

The Innovation Centre welcomed 15 new tenants in 2018: Distinctive Medical, Grant Thornton, Microvi, Imosphere, C-Major Medical, Files.fm, Trigenex, Blackinetix, IntouchwithHealth, Autoscan, Coreshare, Unyte, Triangle Software, Blocktrack, Insource.

The Innovations Technology Access Centre welcomed Livful, NGPod Global, Daresbury Proteins, Quantum Science, Revivocell, Chemical Intelligence.

Multilase and Imagin3d have moved in the Campus Technology Hub while Hosakawa Micron have moved into Techspace One and G3G moved into Techspace Two.