Sci-Tech Daresbury (formerly Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus) is one of two national science and innovation campuses. It is a key location identified by government to drive the high-tech economy in the UK in part through investment in major scientific facilities and collaborative centres.
Sci-Tech Daresbury is home to the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Daresbury Laboratory which provides access to large-scale science facilities (eg super computers, accelerator science facilities) for universities and industry. It is also home to over 100 high-tech companies in areas such as advanced engineering, biomedical technologies, digital/ICT, and energy and environmental technologies.
On August 17th 2011, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited Sci-Tech Daresbury to announce to an expectant audience of Daresbury scientists and entrepreneurs that it had been selected as an enterprise zone, one of a selected few in England.
Announcing Enterprise Zone status, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “You have got a brilliant collaboration here of government-sponsored science, university-sponsored science, defence-industry science, health science, but also a thriving private sector. Here is a successful model, here is great collaboration between scientists and businesses, here is something to build on and an Enterprise Zone can make Daresbury even more successful in the future than it has been today.”
Enterprise Zone status brings the following benefits to Sci-Tech Daresbury:
n Business rates retained over a 25 year period and reinvested to provide new critical support infrastructure
n Companies locating into the Enterprise Zone are eligible for 5 years business rates relief
n Utilisation of radically simplified planning approaches for the Enterprise Zone
Sci-Tech Daresbury’s new property, Vanguard House, is already filling up rapidly with companies enjoying the benefits from being in the Enterprise Zone. If any other companies want to understand more about Sci-Tech Daresbury and its Enterprise Zone status, then please contact John Leake on
jleake@sci-techdaresbury.com or on 01925 607000.
