Manchester’s largest university is entering into a joint venture to develop a business district on their own property in the center of the city as UK higher education providers expand their commercial ventures and play a greater role in the local economy and innovation.
The University of Manchester will on Thursday announce Bruntwood SciTech, a partnership between real estate company Bruntwood and financial services company Legal & General, as the preferred partner for ID Manchester, a £ 1.5 billion “innovation district” dedicated to the growth of science and Technology devotes sector.
The project is a push by the university to commercialize research and development and shape its local environment as higher education struggles for a clearer role in industry while the government pushes research and development, regions of the UK outside the Southeast and realignment of education to applied and professional learning.
“We wanted to create the largest inner-city innovation district in Europe,” said Nancy Rothwell, vice chancellor of the university.
By 2025, we see ID Manchester becoming one of the world’s most prestigious applied innovation districts.
The University and Bruntwood SciTech will form a joint venture to develop the innovation district, which will include 2.6 million square feet of commercial space and a £ 28 million investment in space for public events.
The initiative, made possible in large part by the accident of a disused university campus in central Manchester, is Britain’s most ambitious attempt to anchor business development in universities.
It is not the first attempt of this kind by Manchester, which is part of the Manchester Science Partnership with Bruntwood, an incubator for the “commercialization of knowledge and ideas in the science and technology sector”.
The ID Manchester site is the former home of the Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, which merged with the University of Manchester in 2004. It is located between the main university site and Piccadilly train station, the local terminus for HS2, the high-speed line to London, which is under construction. The partners said the development has the potential to create over 10,000 jobs in the next 10 to 15 years.
Rothwell said the university is speaking to a “number” of companies interested in setting up offices on the site. She said the development would complement the recent formation of Northern Gritstone, an investment firm founded by the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield dedicated to funding academic spinouts in growth technology sectors.
“I think critical mass is really important,” she said, adding that “very rapid growth in digital companies” and proximity to the university were critical to the success of the project.
Chris Oglesby, CEO of Bruntwood, said the ID location has been a “strategic priority” for the company for several years, which has been developing a similar project at a nearby location previously occupied by the BBC.
“By 2025, we see ID Manchester becoming one of the world’s most prestigious applied innovation districts,” he said.
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The UK government aims to increase total public and private investment in R&D to 2.4 percent of GDP by 2027, while increasing pressure on universities to make a local impact.
However, Kieron Flanagan, professor of science and technology policy at the university, said that while the university would play a key role in nurturing talent, knowledge and expertise, the project was ultimately a “property development” driven by a number of factors depend on its success as an innovation location.
“It will happen if it is attractive to the right tenants and that depends on the quality of the offer and how attractive Manchester is to those broader interests,” he said.
