A national science and innovation campus located in Warrington has now attracted 140 leading science and technology companies.
Sci-Tech Daresbury reported 26 new tenants on site in 2018, and the approval for its 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’ 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).
“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,” said Steve Dobson, commercial director at C-Major Medical.
“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.”
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.
“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,” said John Downes, group chief executive of Langtree and chair of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture company.
“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.
“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.”