St John ’ s Innovation Centre
Location St John ’ s Innovation Centre Cowley Road Cambridge CB4 0WS
Contact Details Contact : Miranda Edwards Tel : 01223 420252 Email : info @ stjohns . co . uk Website : www . stjohns . co . uk
St John ’ s Innovation Centre
Introduction
St John ’ s Innovation Centre was established by St John ’ s College , part of the University of Cambridge , in 1987 to provide earlystage , knowledge-based companies with business advice , strategic consultancy , introductions and flexible accommodation . It was the first innovation centre of its kind in Europe and has become worldrenowned for its success as a business incubator . The Centre is located at the heart of the Greater Cambridge technology cluster , in which it plays a pivotal role .
The centre has a prime location on the northern fringe of Cambridge , conveniently situated just off the A14 / A10 junction with ample parking and easy access to the A14 and M11 and a 50 minute train journey to London .
History and Buildings
The Park is situated on 21 acres of land which St John ’ s College has owned since the 16th century . The concept of developing the Park was to encourage and facilitate the creation of knowledge-based businesses . The Park houses businesses which have come from all sources , including the University of Cambridge , other research and academic organisations , consultancies and spin-outs from other businesses .
The Innovation Centre was built in 1987 with a total of 2,220 square metres . It was one of the first buildings which offered technology businesses the opportunity to obtain their own offices without making a long term financial commitment on the lease . The flexible easy-in , easy-out accommodation has proved very popular over the years .
The success of the Centre led to an extension of the facilities in two phases and the Centre now offers 4,860 square metres of accommodation .
Adjacent to the Innovation Centre is the Jeffreys Building , which was built in 1990 and provides 3,126 square metres to a number of businesses wanting larger accommodation and longer leases .
St John ’ s House was built in 1994 and is occupied by Cambridge Silicon Radio , a quoted company which spun out of Cambridge Consultants .
Management
The Innovation Centre Managing Director is David Gill , a Cambridge Graduate who has extensive experience in working with early stage technology companies . David , as well as being a qualified barrister , has worked in Investment Banking – he has been Head of Innovation & Technology with HSBC and a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University Graduate School of Business , and immediately prior to joining St John ’ s was a Director of a venture capital company focused on earlystage technology companies .
Mission Statement
St John ’ s Innovation Centre exists to provide a dynamic and supportive incubation environment to accelerate the growth of ambitious innovative firms in the Cambridge region .
It is privately owned and commercially managed .
Tenants
About 85 companies are located at SJIC , employing over 400 people , creating a vibrant community with an entrepreneurial spirit . Tenants are early-stage companies operating in a wide range of technologies .
Unlike other innovation centres , the centre is also home to a number of companies offering services such as marketing , accountancy and legal services . This creates a diverse business community and encourages the cross-fertilisation of ideas . Expertise is provided in :
• product innovation , design and manufacture
• marketing
• intellectual property
• human resource development and management
• fund raising and other financial services
• training in a wide range of business related subjects .
The Innovation Centre also has over 330 virtual tenants , who make use of the facilities and many of whom will gradually grow and move into the centre as tenants . A virtual service , called the Star Service , offers a business address , telephone , fax and post handling plus access to the building ’ s facilities . This is particularly relevant for hightech companies or companies that provide business support services and want an Innovation Centre ‘ office ’ but are unable to take up residency on the Park .
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