1938
The year Bletchley Park was established ; often considered the first smart city
Dr David J Hardman MBE CHIEF EXECUTIVE , INNOVATION BIRMINGHAM & CHAIR OF UKSPA
David is Chief Executive Officer of Birmingham Science Park Aston ’ s Innovation Birmingham Campus . Since 2008 , he has led the rebranding of the Park and Campus strategy to pave the way for the £ 35 million Digital Plaza development
Over the last 50 years the success of science parks in the UK has largely been achieved through geographic aggregation of talent often with a single sector focus ; creating hot-spots of critical mass , which stimulate innovation . This model now faces historically unique drivers of change which include digital evolution , the blurring of sector boundaries , data becoming the focus of value and increasing urbanisation . Align those trends with the ever-increasing rate of technology development and the associated challenge of ensuring availability of relevant skills , and the twentieth century model of the science park is looking less fit-for-purpose .
It remains the case that innovation is stimulated by bringing creative minds together , but putting the same type of people together in the same place can also stifle innovation . The advance of digital technologies is blurring sector boundaries but is also providing the opportunity to consider a new ( fourth ) generation of science parks .
In the new model , innovators , entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes connect to collaborate . It should also move us beyond our ‘ tech ’ -based clients to include the creative sectors – beyond science and into the arts . This challenges the ‘ science park ’ tag – a true innovation campus now needs to engage with the broadest possible mindsets – the convergent scientists , technologists and business leaders working alongside and with the divergent minds of the creative artists . The move towards the 24 / 7 urban live-work-play culture means that city-based and integrated innovation campuses will become the real sites of innovation .
Borderless spaces Outside cities , the geography-based models focus around centres of excellence or high value assets that result in the co-location of critical mass over decades . In the new model , connected real estate merges the physical and the virtual places , providing a means of driving communities of interest where people are brought together through global exchanges and collaboration created in much shorter time-frames . Such locations , operate without walls to create borderless spaces , breaking down local economic , sector and social silos . This has the advantage that it levels the playingfield enabling regions where historic , often declining economies , can be refreshed through access to local and global talent to promote growth .
SMART CITIES Within urban settings this is the very basis for the ‘ Smart City ’; by connecting innovation districts and campuses to the wider city economy , the innovation ecology is immediately opened to wider input from sectors that have previously not considered science parks as their natural home . Intra-connected cities will better promote innovation , and interconnected cities will benefit from today ’ s global supply chains and economies .
This connected innovation agenda has been slow to gain momentum . However , entrepreneurs readily accept a nonspatial definition of ‘ place ’. Hence , ‘ GenZ ’ entrepreneurs will naturally look beyond their locations in their working lives and science parks will need to keep pace with these changes to ensure they meet the evolving needs and work patterns of their future clients .
without walls The future effectiveness of these ‘ places ’ will be determined by the availability , quality and efficiency of the web infrastructure serving the location . In turn , the web infrastructure will determine the strength of affiliated digital communities and that will determine the pace of innovation . It is with this outlook that we have developed a strategic plan for what was Aston Science Park and created the Innovation Birmingham Campus .
a true innovation campus now needs to engage with the broadest possible mind-sets
Read online at : ukspa . org . uk / breakthrough spring 2017 | UKSPA breakthrough | 67