Birmingham Science Park Aston, formerly known as Aston Science Park, is a

science park A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park", "technopark", "technopolis", "technopole", or a "science and technology park" TP is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters ...

located in

Birmingham City Centre Birmingham city centre, also known as Central Birmingham, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Warwickshire. Following the removal of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, the city cent ...

, United Kingdom. It is located adjacent to

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...

and the Eastside area.

Description

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Science Park A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park", "technopark", "technopolis", "technopole", or a "science and technology park" TP is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters ...

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

(BSPA) was founded in 1982 and as such is the UK's third oldest

. Located in its urban setting within central

, it offers 250,000 sq ft of accommodation over 14

acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...

Two campuses

BSPA is wholly owned by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

. To pave the way for a £35 million development zone, it is now presented as two campuses; the Science & Technology Campus and the Innovation Birmingham Campus.

The Science and Technology Campus

The Science & Technology Campus encompasses a range of multi-occupied and headquarters style single occupancy buildings owned by

and serviced by the Innovation Birmingham team. The Innovation Birmingham Campus is working in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders to help shape the

Smart Cities A smart city is an urban area that uses digital technology to collect data and operate services. Data is collected from citizens, devices, buildings, or cameras. Applications include traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities ...

agenda and drive innovation-led regeneration across Greater Birmingham. Faraday Wharf – the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

building on the campus – incorporates 70 office suites specifically designed for growing technology businesses.

The Innovation Birmingham Campus

The Innovation Birmingham team describes itself as a one-stop-shop for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors looking to develop or fund tech start-ups with high growth potential.

The Innovation Birmingham strategy

The Innovation Birmingham strategy is focused on a service offering for founders of new technology ventures, as well as more established tech businesses. The campus facilities include the Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) multi-occupancy start-up centre with hot-desking facilities and a wide range of office units (115-4,000 sq ft) within the rest of Faraday Wharf.

Entrepreneurs for the Future centre (e4f)

This ERDF supported incubation centre is specifically focused on creating new innovative technology ventures. As the companies grow, they are then able to graduate into larger premises within Faraday Wharf, or elsewhere on the

. Since establishing in November 2009, e4f has supported the creation of over 100 new technology companies. Within the first nine months of being enrolled onto e4f, the Innovation Birmingham team and mentor base works with the new business founders to create a value proposition, assisting with the process of becoming revenue generating and/or securing investment funding. Start-ups in e4f can take advantage of well-established links with funds such as Finance Birmingham's Tech Fund.

West Midlands Regional Innovation Centre

A new regional hub funded by Climate-KIC – Europe's largest public-private partnership focused on tackling

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

– was launched by Innovation Birmingham in 2014. The West Midlands Regional Innovation Centre receives in excess of €2 million of funding per annum, spread across a number of local initiatives. Innovation Birmingham has created 10 new jobs to run the centre. The centre's main initiatives are; Pioneers into Practice – a grant-funded European exchange programme for low carbon specialists; the Low Carbon Accelerator Programme for

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

businesses; and a range of grant-funded education programmes aimed at students, professionals and organisations.

LAUNCH

Over 20 gaming companies have already been nurtured in the e4f centre, with many more established studios relocating to the Innovation Birmingham Campus over recent years. The Innovation Birmingham team run a year-round programme of events for those working in the gaming or mobile app industries. The events are also targeted at students, graduates and anyone looking to launch a career in gaming. There are at least seven LAUNCH events per year, with speakers drawn from gaming companies, such as

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Playground Games Playground Games Limited is a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, England. It is known for developing the ''Forza#Horizon, Forza Horizon'' series, which is part of the larger ''Forza'' franchise. In 2018, Playground Games bec ...

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...

and Vodafone Games.

£35 million development zone

The £35 million development zone will enable significant expansion of the Innovation Birmingham Campus. The two-acre plot is situated next to Faraday Wharf, at the gateway to the Eastside knowledge quarter. It is accessed off Holt Street and A38 Aston Expressway. The site is one of 26 covered by Greater Birmingham and

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

LEP's

Enterprise Zone An urban enterprise zone is an area in which policies to encourage economic growth and development are implemented. Urban enterprise zone policies generally offer tax concessions, infrastructure incentives, and reduced regulations to attract invest ...

. The collection of buildings will be among the first within the Enterprise Zone to get underway, enabling future occupiers to benefit from Business Rates relief. Innovation Birmingham is developing the new buildings in partnership with

Stourport-on-Severn Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest (district), Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, 4 miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Be ...

headquartered Thomas Vale Construction Ltd, which is part of one of the world's leading construction groups, Bouygues Construction. Three to five buildings are proposed in total, delivering 11,500 sq m (120,000 sq ft) of new space for

’s tech community.

iCentrumTM

The first phase of the development zone will be the delivery of the £8 million iCentrumTM building. It will encompass 3,874 sq m (41,700 sq ft) of open work space promoting mobile working, a new Serendip incubator offering, self-contained offices, tech demonstration and event facilities and a café. The building is being developed speculatively and will be available for occupation in March 2016.

Serendip incubator

A new tech incubator concept will be delivered within the iCentrumTM building, called "Serendip". It will promote unique collaborations across sectors, supported by corporate mentors from:

Built Environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...

;

Internet of Things Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communication networks. The IoT encompasse ...

; Intelligent Mobility; and Digital Health

History

Birmingham Science Park Aston is owned by Birmingham Technology Ltd., which was jointly owned by Lloyds TSB, Birmingham City Council and Aston University, until 2008. During 2008 there was restructuring, and the science park is now wholly owned by Birmingham City Council. Aston University continue to sit on the board and provide services such as management support and equity capital to firms at the

. The science park was opened in 1983 and was designed to overcome the reluctance of London-based firms to invest outside of

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

. The first building to be opened was the Business and Innovation Centre, in 1983 by

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

. The building was refurbished in 1994. Within one year, there were fifteen companies on site and ten years later, there were 80 companies on site. By 2001, there were 1,400 employees and 110 companies on site. Visitors to the site included then-Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

in 1985,

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick; born 9 October 1935) is a member of the British royal family. The elder son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is a grandson of George ...

in the same year,

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

in 1988, European Commissioner Bruce Milan in 1989,

Jeremy Morse Sir Christopher Jeremy Morse KCMG (10 December 1928 – 4 February 2016) was an English banker, cruciverbalist and chess composer who was Chancellor of the University of Bristol from 1989 to 2003, and was chairman of Lloyds Bank. Early life ...

in 1990, chairman of the TSB Group Plc.

Nicholas Goodison Sir Nicholas Proctor Goodison (16 May 1934 – 6 July 2021) was a British businessman who was chairman of the London Stock Exchange from 1976 to 1986. He was an important supporter of the arts and the President of the Furniture History Soc ...

in 1992, Patricia Hewitt in 2001, Digby Jones, Frederick Crawford and former Polish Prime Minister

Jerzy Buzek Jerzy Karol Buzek (; born 3 July 1940) is a Polish politician and former Member of the European Parliament from Poland. He has served as Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001, since being elected to the European Parliament in 2004, he serv ...

Access

The Science Park is near the end of the

A38(M) motorway The A38(M), commonly known as the Aston Expressway, is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is long and was opened on 24 May 1972.M6 into

. It is located alongside the A4540 road, on a site adjacent to the

campus and the Eastside area. The

Digbeth Branch Canal Digbeth is an area of central Birmingham, England. Following the remodelling of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is under ...

runs through it.