New centres that offer UK-based businesses flexible and affordable access to cutting-edge scientific equipment and laboratory space for high-tech research and development work have opened at STFC Daresbury Laboratory, part of the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus in Cheshire, UK.
More than £3 M of cutting-edge equipment is available for businesses to use at the Innovations Technology Access Centres. Through these centres, businesses can develop their innovative businesses by making use of more than £3 M worth of cutting-edge equipment in fully-equipped biological, imaging, materials and physical science laboratories. The laboratories provide a range of flexible and purpose-built research accommodation to suit the needs of a wide range of businesses from ‘lock and leave’ exclusive use laboratories to multi-user laboratories available on an hourly basis.
As well as having access to high-end laboratory sample preparation and analysis facilities, the centres give businesses the opportunity to work alongside STFC’s own highly skilled scientists and leading academic institutions as they carry out their research and development.
The Innovations Technology Access Centres also complement the facilities that businesses can receive from the nearby Daresbury Innovation Centre, which offers high-quality offices and larger leasable space suitable for businesses wishing to set up their own laboratory. The Innovation Centre is already home to over 90 high-tech small businesses employing more than 300 people with specialist expertise in instrumentation, control engineering, medical devices and diagnostics, mobile telecoms technologies and software development.