Manchester Science Parks’ Silver Anniversary was celebrated on Wednesday evening, September 16th, with a Civic Reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Alison Firth. 

Over 300 guests gathered at Manchester Town Hall to join Manchester Science Parks’ (msp) staff and Board of Directors in celebrating 25 years of nurturing innovation and supporting the development of knowledge based businesses.

Jane Davies, CEO of msp, explained that Manchester Science Park, a visionary collaboration between the University of Manchester, the City Council and the private sector, was launched in 1984, a time of economic uncertainty in the UK.
 
“Recession is often a time when the best ideas and innovations come to the fore and, in the early 1980s, as an antidote to the decline of the manufacturing sector, there was evidence in America that university research could be exploited for economic benefit.

“It was from this idea that msp’s founding Chairman, Robin Skelton, drew the vision for a science park in Manchester; an organisation that would actively work with the City to develop a diverse economy based on knowledge.

“Manchester in 1984 was a very different place to 2009 and, as the city has developed so too did its science park; today msp is considered one of the leading science parks in the UK and is recognised as a vital element of Manchester’s knowledge economy,” stated Ms Davies.

When msp first opened its doors to tenants in 1984, the Science Park consisted of just one building, Enterprise House. Today msp offers laboratory and office space at seven buildings on the main Manchester Science Park site, which is adjacent to the University of Manchester, as well as at its campuses at Manchester Technopark in Birley Fields and One Central Park in North East Manchester.

It is also home to some 90 tenant companies, which span sectors including environmental technologies, digital media, ICT, industrial technologies and bio-healthcare.

Some of the innovative companies located on the Park include Colgate, James Fisher Mimic, Sigma-Aldrich (SAFC Pharma), Telecity and Novartis (Neutec Pharma) while smaller companies, such as Oxyrane, i-Prophets Energy Services and Melbourne Network Solutions are already on their way to becoming the business leaders of the future.  

However, while proud of msp’s achievements to date, the company’s management and Board of Directors are planning a future for msp as an even stronger player within the City Region’s knowledge economy.

“msp has already created a working structure within its own community to encourage innovation, to support the development of innovative, knowledge based businesses and to encourage collaboration between academia and business,” continued Ms Davies.

“Our next step is to extend these services beyond the boundaries of our own facilities, initially to companies in the Corridor, Manchester, an area identified as one of the premier nodes of the UK’s knowledge economy, and then further across the City Region.

“Manchester has the potential to become a national economic powerhouse and msp, as a vital part of the Manchester ‘offer’, will help the City Region to achieve that potential,” Ms Davies concluded.

Ends

Picture caption: Peter Folkman, Chairman of msp, speaking at the 25th Anniversary Civic Reception.