Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst a stimulating base for life science growth

The clue is in the name: ‘Catalyst’. In business terms a catalyst is regarded as any agent that ‘provokes or speeds significant change or action.’

The cradling environment at SBC is exactly that – a dynamic but subtle factor that takes companies – often from academia – and helps them grow, raise money, make the right relationships and thrive. And that, of course, triggers immense benefits to patients right across the world’s healthcare system.

The park setting itself is inspirational. Lots of green space, oodles of free parking, warm and welcoming buildings, a stunning support culture from advice to events including top-class service provision, networking and training provision and to-die for mentoring support.

Ideally situated geographically at the heart of Herts and snug between London and the Cambridge life science cluster, SBC also has within the grounds the inspirational and influential Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Catapult which is at the heart of a number of globally influential collaborations.

The overall takeaway is a highly productive and supportive ecosystem and the SBC genie spends a lot of time out of the bottle, whispering “Your wish is my command.”

The genie here generally comes in the form of Dr Sally Ann Forsyth OBE, the Chief Executive Officer who previously was the first Director for Harwell, Oxford, where she led the establishment of the Harwell Enterprise Zone, the European Space Agency and the establishment of the UK Space Satellite Catapult Centre.

She was also Director of Colworth Science Park and immediately prior to joining SBC was CEO at the world-class Norwich Research Park.

Her magic touch remains in good order. At SBC, companies can rub shoulders with giants of the industry such as GSK and LifeArc and neighbouring businesses which together have raised billions – often from a standing start.

For the record, SBC was established in 2012 as a not for profit, and the business invests any surplus made into supporting companies, because it doesn’t have to give anything back to shareholders: £38 million was collectively pooled into its foundation, with £21m of the funding from Government, £11m from biopharma giant GSK and £6m from Wellcome.

The vision was to accelerate the translation of cutting-edge science to improve the health and quality of people’s lives – and it is a commitment that never sleeps.

More recently, the Stevenage Campus attracted UBS Asset Management and developers Reef Group (Forge partnership), who have bought some of GSK’s land for further expansion to create a 1.6m sq ft science park called Elevate Quarter, which aims to create 5,000 additional jobs over the next 5-10 years. With plans approved in 2023, Forge is building on rock solid foundations.

Since the facility officially opened in 2012, companies based at SBC have raised more than £3.6 billion. Over 70 per cent of that figure has been in cell and gene therapy advancement.

Just as impressive is the staying power of its occupants: SBC boasts a survival rate of 87 per cent – significantly ahead of the national rate of 65-70 per cent.

While its biotech equity investment is on a par with the Cambridge Cluster, Oxford and London (Beauhurst, based on data sourced by Hertfordshire LEP, March 2021), SBC’s product development is calculated at around six months faster than the UK average.

As a point of interest, a record number of the 45 SBC companies have entered the current Business Weekly Awards – an East of England showcase for the best companies across the region and first launched in 1990. ALL SBC’s candidates in the competition have made the initial high-quality shortlist from which eventual champions will be chosen on September 11.

They are thriving in fertile territory: Besides an inspirational setting, SBC provides occupants with routes to market, introductions to the right funding source at the right stage of business, first-class facilities and equipment, customised training & skills mentoring – all with a laser focus on innovation.

Businesses (on site and beyond) can enrol for Catalyser, SBC’s accelerator programme in partnership with Triple Chasm, that helps young innovators craft slick commercial plans and join a buzzing science community of like-minded professionals.

Additional skill-enhancing opportunities at SBC include pitch writing workshops, panel speaker events, and more informal mentoring such as occupier presentations, CEO roundtables and networking socials.

If quality kit is a crucial component of a company’s growth aspirations, then a run through the facilities on offer will hardly disappoint. Providing a supportive scientific ecosystem is at the core of SBC’s philosophy.

It provides shared general lab facilities including generic equipment for young guns and often this is free of charge – including six months’ rent-free office and lab space for early-stage start-ups in the Lab Hotel.

For later stage enterprises there is also free access to more specialist equipment, labs and write-up rooms in the incubator at SBC. Scale-up facilities, sector-specific, prototype manufacturing capability and collaboration space is available at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult across the way. This often helps product development stride across the line to include commercialisation.

There is also a built-in supply chain focus at SBC which helps embryonic companies translate from academia or other start-up status through to multinational, often manufacturing, status. And here, the proximity to London Stansted Airport is a bonus.

Executives can travel internationally from Stansted; guests, investors and collaborators can use the terminal as a gateway to collaborate with businesses at SBC. And thriving cargo facilities at the Airport are already used to transport a range of life science products globally from drugs to instrumentation.

Dr Forsyth commented: “There is growing concern in the UK that whilst we deliver some of the best research in the world, the challenge is to translate, commercialise and scale next generation medicine for the benefit of patients and the UK economy. SBC provides the ideal environment to support this innovation supply change and achieve its aim.”

• Find out about SBC’s space via https://www.stevenagecatalyst.com/space/