Trio of new partnerships add to the golden touch at Sci-Tech Daresbury

The continued growth and expansion of Sci-Tech Daresbury has attracted three more companies to form strategic relationships with the campus, adding to the mix of world class business support, expertise, and specialist services available at the site.

Joining the cohort of Gold Partners this year is the financial powerhouse, Lloyds Bank, along with Bouygues, the diversified global business with interests that span energy, telecoms, construction and media, and Konsileo, a multi award-winning, Chartered, Commercial Insurance Broker, providing a range of specialist insurance products to businesses across the UK.

Gold Partners are a handpicked group of organisations that have access to the more than 150 start-ups, scale-ups and global giants that are working side-by-side at Sci-Tech Daresbury’s campus. The specialists cover a broad range of essential services in knowledge-intensive industries, including intellectual property, scientific research, AI & digital solutions, technology commercialisation, laboratory & engineering infrastructure, insurance, finance and taxation, legal and marketing.

Following the success of the 2023/2024 Gold Partners programme, David Antrobus Marketing, IBM, Marks & Clerk, RTC North, Slater Heelis, University of Liverpool, Grant Thornton, and Asset Lifecycle Solutions are all continuing their legacy with Sci-Tech Daresbury.

The support of the Gold Partners and companies within the wider Sci-Tech Daresbury ecosystem, helps starting and scaling increase probability of success. According to data captured through campus surveys, on average, businesses at Sci-Tech Daresbury achieved an impressive sales growth rate of 25% per year.

John Leake, Business Growth Director at Sci-Tech Daresbury says: “In any enterprise where innovation is highly prized and companies are operating in very dynamic markets, the right expert advice and support at key moments can prove to be invaluable and make the difference between achieving objectives or failure. There is no substitute for good advice and our Gold Partnership programme has become a cornerstone of success for the businesses here, helping them unlock opportunity and avoid pitfalls through fast tracking answers, sharing insight.”

“We of course welcome and celebrate the arrival of our three new Gold Partners for the start of this year’s programme, which will enhance the mentoring we already make available. Our campus companies have fed back that access to the Gold Partners has been key to driving profits, boosting innovation, and improving staff retention.”

As a key North of England location where science and technology companies can thrive, Sci-Tech Daresbury’s campus partnerships have a circa 15-year track record of supporting a wide range of innovation-based businesses. The partners help with essential parts of the process, including securing funding, protecting intellectual property, and offering advice on legal, financial, and business matters. The three new partners become part of the group of these valued and trusted partners:

Asset Lifecycle Solutions is one of the UK's most highly accredited IT asset disposal specialists, holding the ADISA DIAL 3 certification. It provides sustainable and secure IT lifecycle management services across both the public and private sectors. Asset Lifecycle Solutions' expertise spans the responsible recycling of equipment to the secure disposal of data, ensuring compliance and peace of mind for its clients. Committed to creating social value, the company actively gives back refurbished IT equipment to the community through various initiatives, supporting education, local development, and environmental sustainability.

Bouygues Energies & Services (UK) is a global leader in energy, digital and industrial transformation. Bouygues Energies & Services specialises in multi-disciplinary engineering design and build, supporting Scale-up and Pilot Plant Design & Delivery; Advanced Process Manufacturing Facilities and Cleanrooms/Laboratories Processes.  With over 50 years of experience, Bouygues delivers integrated engineering solutions for projects in critical environments such as Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Medical Devices; Defence and Aerospace; Semiconductors; Renewable Energy and Industry 4.0

David Antrobus Marketing has been delivering successful traditional and digital marketing campaigns across various science and innovation businesses and associated technical and manufacturing sectors for 25 years. Its team are passionate about helping businesses grow and work closely with their clients to ensure that their marketing activities deliver a strong return on investment.

Grant Thornton is one of the world’s leading organisations of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms. It combines global scale with local insight and understanding to build relationships and deliver the services companies need to realise their ambitions. From its local offices in Manchester and Liverpool it offers a full suite of tax and accounting services from R&D tax credits to outsourcing your financial book-keeping and accounts preparation.

Through the IBM Research team, IBM can offer businesses based on the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus advice on the latest emerging technologies such as AI and their applicability in a range of commercial areas. IBM’s support for its fellow campus firms was enhanced last year with the announcement of the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation, which brings together innovative AI, quantum computing and the expertise of STFC Hartree Centre and IBM to benefit UK industry and research communities.

Konsileo provide innovative, tech-enabled insurance broking, which allows their brokers to build and augment client relationships in an authentic and positive way. Providing bespoke commercial insurance to a broad range of sectors, including healthcare, life science and technology, the growing team have a wealth of relevant market knowledge, risk mitigation strategies and connections to help achieve corporate objectives by providing the right protection to meet specific business needs. These include intellectual property rights defence, cyber exposures, clinical trials, or business interruption protection (including “R&D” expenditure and “advance profits” for new products).

Lloyds Bank provides expert support, guidance and funding, with specialist relationship management teams experienced in diverse business sectors and for organisations at different stages of maturity – from entrepreneurs starting out, through scaling businesses and large corporates.  The team understands the unique position of innovative and fast-growing companies when it comes to access to finance and specialist support.

Marks & Clerk, intellectual property (IP) experts, has a full IP service offering, giving clear, practical and commercially focused advice on all IP matters (patents, trademarks, designs, copyright, litigation, due diligence, etc.), helping businesses to identify, protect, enforce, defend and maximise the value of their innovations and brands in the UK and overseas, via its international network of offices.

RTC North is a leading provider of business support and innovation services, working with organisations to unlock their potential and achieve sustainable growth. With a wealth of expertise and a commitment to excellence, RTC North empowers businesses to overcome challenges, embrace opportunities, and drive success in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Slater Heelis offers legal services focusing on corporate structures and incorporation, corporate governance and directors’ duties, mergers, acquisitions, IPOs and capital markets, development capital, venture capital and angel investment, joint ventures, commercial contracts, intellectual property licensing and transfer, real estate transactions, employment law, dispute resolution and estate planning.

The University of Liverpool is one of the UK’s leading research-intensive higher education institutions with an annual turnover of £675.1 million, including an annual research income of £160.6 million. The University is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of the UK’s leading research universities and the N8 Research Partnership and is consistently ranked in the top 200 universities worldwide.