 UMIC: University of Manchester Incubator Company; 1 year on
Wednesday 14th December, 2005
UMIC is the University of Manchesters Facilities and Business Management Company for its growing portfolio of Incubators. With a small team of 6 staff it has been providing these services for the past 6 years at the world-leading Manchester Incubator Building and will now provide these services across a number of facilities, in all market sectors.
The facilities currently being managed include the Manchester Biosciences Incubator building, located on Grafton Street. We have been pretty much at full occupancy since May 2001 and over the past 12 to 18 months, have seen Motac Neurosciences, F2G Ltd. and Intercytex Ltd. graduate from our facility and out into the business parks, which is precisely the way business incubation is intended to function. We have also seen companies like Intercytex and Renovo grow from 2-45 and even up to 90 in the case of Renovo, on the back of significant Venture Capital Investment. We are currently the preferred home of the UK Biobank project and this has also helped to raise our profile at a national and global level.
The Manchester Incubator Building
On the back of this success, the new Core Technology Facility is being built, adjoining the Incubator on Grafton Street. The project, funded both by ERDF and NWDA, as well as the University is due for completion in December 05 and opening in January 06.
We are on schedule and working busily to attract tenants to what will be the grow-on space for biotechnology business incubation. It will be an exciting mix of growing companies on the lower two floors, with University Life Sciences and Medical Research on the top two floors. The aim is to have a world-leading centre of excellence in biotechnology business incubation, growing alongside a world class University.
The Core Technology Facility
On the other side of campus, just off Sackville Street, is the North Campus Incubator (NCI), opened officially by Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in January 2005. Managed by Tony Walker, this facility is very much focused on the incubation of University start-ups that come primarily from the ICT and Hi-Tech business sectors. Some have come through the Universitys business creation and Enterprise Centres that are closely associated with the Manchester Science and Enterprise Centre (MSEC); these activities have become an essential pipeline of commercial opportunities for the Incubator.
The North Campus Incubator
October saw the opening of our fourth facility, the exciting project at One Central Park (OCP). A close collaboration between the local council, MANCAT, Universities of Manchester and Salford, MMU and Manchester Science Park, the new facility will house a range of activities from University academic research through Manchester Science and Enterprise Centre (MSEC) activities, business incubation and potential grow-on space, all in the same building. We are now starting to identify and confirm new tenants for One Central Park and we are looking forwards (through the recently established Enterprise Group) to delivering sustainable and profitable SMEs into the East Manchester community.
One Central Park
On the business mentoring front, armed with a host of consultancy support and mentoring, funding from DTI for Biotechnology and ERDF funding across all market sectors, we are growing and building a reputation for providing a quality service, not just locally around the University, but across the region.
For further details please contact:
Dr Martino Picardo
General Manager
The University of Manchester Incubator Company Limited (UMIC)
e-mail: [email protected]
web: www.www.umic.co.uk
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