The Science, Tech and Innovation Panel meeting convened at a time when the University sector is on tenterhooks over student numbers they’ll successfully enroll for the start of the academic year in a month or two, leading to much uncertainty over their financial position and an impass on fresh commitments for most.  At the same time, and in quite stark contrast, we have growing interest in Life Sciences R&D despite or maybe partly because of the Covid pandemic – with occupier requirements on the up and property investors circling ever more strongly for the opportunity to convert buildings or deliver new ones to the sector.

 

The panel expressed strongest concerns over how our innovation districts are going to be nurturerd into or indeed protected as successful, dynamic places into the future.  The new ‘hands off’ approach to planning controls is seen as a potential threat to quality place making and delivery of a good mix of appropriate uses.  And we need to think about the opportunities that might exist for bringing science into the city if retail centres are in decline and looking for new, innovative and exciting futures.

 

The good news is that there is a pool of research and activity to build upon as we think about innovation districts – such as the NLA’s recent trip to Boston; and UKRI working on a raft of projects now receiving funding.  Dan Culling from Ernst and Young offered to help with sourcing funding for initiatives, possibly around upskilling.

 

From the built environment professionals sitting on the panel include:

·     How might out of town science parks compare to city districts post Covid?

·     How might we better make use of funding that might be available to support those wanting to make a postive difference in community development and the built environment?

·     How might the Covid pandemic (and Brexit) effect the talent shortages already being experienced in our innovation districts and what are we going to do about it?

·     How can we better organise our research environments so that people have good opportunity to meet others in tomorrow’s world?

·     How do we deliver new building typology that has all the flexibity it’s appropriate to deliver at not too much additional expense, sustainably?

·     How do we best build ancillary uses into hotspots for research and R&D?

 

Opportunities for us to spend time on are considered to include the following:

1.   Education, Training, and Public Engagementin our Innovation Districts.   Councils and charities are playing every more important roles yet how we best go about building the ‘value add’ proposition to society in these areas may not be as researched as other areas, but undoubtedly coming to the fore.  

2.   Protecting and building innovation district dynamics in the new planning regimeand with the hit that Covid 19 has brought upon retailers is going to require proactive endeavour into the future – the NLA and its research team, sitting with the expert panel, could usefully bring knowledge and some strategic guidance to planners, property owners and politicians.

3.   Delivering fit for purpose research/commercial buildingswith low or even zero carbon credentials, and Life Sciences buildings with good flexibility for various types of laboratory use, has been pursued for a number of years now.  But how do we ensure we can attend to both and that developers/investors and occupiers make the commitments necessary to deliver to these agendas, collectively?

 

For the next meeting we will intend to move forward with some work that helps make a difference, building on a lot of the really good work that has gone before and that which we know to be in hand already.