Abingdon: Milton Park has record month

The Innovation Centre based at Milton Park, one of Europe’s largest business and science estates, has experienced a record month with 14 company moves – equating to a move nearly every two days.

Between June 10 and July 10, 2011, the Milton Park Innovation Centre has attracted eight new companies onsite, while three organisations have chosen to relocate within the centre and a further three businesses have graduated to other premises on the Milton Park estate.

James Dipple, managing director for MEPC Milton Park, said: “The Innovation Centre acts as the perfect incubator for fledgling companies. Start-up businesses are given the support to succeed and expand to other offices on the Milton Park estate. Our strategy is to encourage start-up and small businesses to operate in an environment which allows them to focus on their own corporate goals while we take care of their premises. In turn, this strategy provides us with a steady stream of companies who need to expand into other office locations on our estate.”

Milton Park Innovation Centre provides state-of-the-art small to medium sized offices for entrepreneurs, start-up and growing companies. Businesses located at the centre benefit from professional infrastructure, business support and a community of like-minded businesses to network with. The Innovation Centre is managed by Oxford Innovation, a leading operator of innovation and business centres across the UK.

Claresys, a developer of unique lenses for surveillance and vision systems, has recently moved from the Innovation Centre into other premises on the Milton Park estate.

Andy McLeod, CEO of Claresys, said: “One of the reasons we originally chose Milton Park as the location for our business was due to the range of flexible accommodation it has to offer, with the Innovation Centre being the ideal starting point.

“We are now recruiting to double our existing headcount, increasing our investment in assembly and test facilities and resourcing a major new contract. We required a purpose built facility to accommodate our current and future growth and Milton Park has configured and equipped a bespoke office and laboratory for us in the Science Campus. Our employees are very happy working at Milton Park and it is an attractive location for our new staff to work.”

The Innovation Centre is currently 81% occupied with 36 companies in the centre and 15 virtual businesses. This equates to 25% of the occupiers on the Milton Park estate.