What makes a science and innovation campus different from traditional office space?

Science and technology businesses rarely choose office space to rent simply because it has a certain number of desks. For these businesses, their premises can affect several parts of their operations as well as investor perception and the ability to scale without disruption.

Innovation-led companies rely on close relationships between people, facilities, and expertise, which are all things that traditional office space can’t supply. Founders and innovation leaders need to consider which environment best supports their next few stages of growth.

Why traditional office space no longer meets the needs of growing science businesses

Conventional office space to rent usually solves one issue: occupancy. Typically, business A needs space for more hires and finds a spot that can accommodate them all.

For science or technology businesses, though, they may need an office space to solve multiple problems all at once, including:

• Ability to attract and retain required staff
• Market credibility and reputation
• Collaboration
• Infrastructure needs
• Commercialisation

A company carrying out regular R&D may need typical office space today and then access to lab space to rent tomorrow, as well as a credible base for funder meetings and technical collaboration with third parties.

Standard office leases often fail to grow with a company and can become redundant sooner than a business would like. Other issues, such as an office being unable to handle specialist equipment or losing time moving between various office and lab locations, can also make leasing a ‘normal’ office a bad choice.

Science businesses often need additional practical features that ordinary offices were never designed to have, whether that’s appropriate lab provisions, secure data environments, or safe handling processes.

Of course, a traditional office is not a poor choice for every company. It’s more that science and technology businesses need added features that can help facilitate a less-than-straightforward pattern of growth.

What is an innovation campus?

An innovation campus is best thought of as a connected environment where flexible office space and lab facilities are used by a group of like-minded professionals who all work in similar sectors and encounter similar problems.

The key difference is the relationships between the buildings and the ecosystem around them. Places such as Sci-Tech Daresbury allow occupiers access to space, yes, but also to a breadth of expertise and knowledge along with collaborative, funding and business opportunities that a normal office can rarely provide.

These additional features change the buying criteria for companies searching for office space to rent from simple cost per square foot and Wi-Fi speed to how valuable an area is for the stages of growth they may enter in the near future.

UK innovation campuses are at their most valuable when companies use the surrounding assets and tap into the knowledge that’s on offer. Sci-Tech Daresbury is a good example of such a campus, one that brings together offices and science facilities for the wider science and technology community.

Flexible office and lab space designed for growth

Unfortunately, for many sci-tech businesses, growth isn’t something that happens in a predictable straight line.

Funding can appear, or a project can be won, all of which can change how quickly or slowly hiring happens, affecting a company’s space requirements immediately.

Modern, flexible office space has massive commercial value because it reduces the risk of an organisation taking up too much space too early or signing a lease that limits what they can do next.

Flexibility also means being able to walk from an office to a lab in a matter of minutes without creating any additional problems or disrupting the job at hand. Innovation campuses help businesses protect their momentum when the business is moving through various phases.

Access to expertise, funding and business support

Businesses that rely on innovation as a means of growth need more than a landlord when it comes to office space to rent. They need informed introductions and access to people who understand funding and how to grow the commercial side of their organisation.

Innovation campuses become hubs for these sorts of things. Those who can offer collaborative opportunities, mentorship, signposting to, and advice about support and funding opportunities are more likely to be found at Sci-Tech Daresbury than in a standard office environment.

Access to these kinds of support can make a company’s next move easier, which is especially relevant for founders who have built exciting start-ups on their technical knowledge but are financially stretched.

In short, a campus ecosystem is a practical advantage for companies that are ready to engage with it.

Why collaboration drives innovation

Culturally, collaboration can be an important part of a company’s DNA, but businesses in the science and technology space care about outcomes, especially in the early stages. They want problems to be solved faster and to have access to the best industry expertise.

An innovation campus increases the chances of these outcomes happening, but its real value comes when businesses can turn conversations with fellow campus neighbours into:

• Technical insights
• Increased business awareness and understanding
• Customer introductions
• Joint, commercially valuable projects

Co-locating with other ambitious businesses can turn innovation that used to feel daunting into something normal because teams are surrounded by people facing similar challenges, whether around funding, hiring, or product development.

Collaboration, then, is both social and operational, because the environment in which it’s found has to create repeated, useful opportunities to meet, which can then turn into concrete growth.

The benefits of co-locating with ambitious businesses

A strong innovation campus such as Sci-Tech Daresbury gives businesses access to a peer group that is likely going through the same problems and uncertainties.

The value of being alongside companies with similar ambitions and complementary expertise is a practical one, as well as cultural. One conversation can lead to a supplier recommendation or an introduction to a new customer, for instance.

For senior decision makers, the benefit of an innovation campus is the reduced distance between a question or problem they have and a useful answer.

How innovation ecosystems support long-term growth

A space that helps to foster innovation and collaboration, and shared benefits for those operating within it doesn’t automatically happen. The companies that make up this ecosystem need to show up and build relationships with fellow organisations so that this access turns into something meaningful.

Those who benefit most are the occupiers who use the whole environment. They go to events, maximise the research links there, and actively look to have informal peer conversations that may turn into something useful.

Collaboration is a capability that companies can develop by being actively involved in the process of promoting and fostering it. Businesses, then, should assess a campus by the people they could meet and how those relationships could affect their next two or three years of growth.

Why location still matters

While it’s true that hybrid working has changed how offices are used and how people interact with them, location remains important for companies that need access to talent, as well as relevant local, national and international travel links, and specialist facilities.

Location can influence the type of talent an R&D team can recruit, for instance, as well as collaboration with academic or industry partners. On a more practical level, the right location can simply make it easier for customers or investors to visit.

Sci-Tech Daresbury is located in the Liverpool City Region, which connects it well to other Northern cities. Alongside this, it has excellent rail links to London and, through its two local international airports, a wealth of business locations across Europe. This helps support a company’s need to build its academic and business networks and collaborations

Location continues to matter even in a world of remote working because it affects who a sci-tech company can recruit and how it can collaborate. A suitable location also gives an air of credibility to an external audience, be they investors or potential recruits.

Choosing a workspace that supports your future ambitions

Office space for technology companies should be assessed by how well it helps businesses hire expertise and maintain momentum, despite unusual growth patterns.

Traditional office space may meet today’s desk requirements, but a science and innovation campus can meet a broader set of business needs. Sci-Tech Daresbury helps businesses satisfy these needs by combining office space with lab space to rent and much more, all in a perfectly located innovation ecosystem.