Medtech entrepreneurs get sneak peak of new £7m BioHub
A NEW £7m medical research facility in Birmingham has opened its doors to potential users for the first time.
The Biomedical Innovation Hub – or BioHub – at the University of Birmingham features new and innovative biomedical laboratory facilities and office space. It will officially launch next month.
The exclusive first-look event was targeted at researchers, interested business people and medical entrepreneurs.
Helen Miller-Viney, Business Development Manager, at the facility, together with Anthony Clarke, Senior Laboratory Manager, showed potential tenants around the venue, which boasts a large 4,500 sq ft shared biomedical laboratory space, including specialist Category 2 microbiology rooms, freezing capabilities of -150°C, a microscopy lab, specialist cleaning and sterilisation facilities and a cryogenic suite for housing liquid nitrogen- all required for any biotech or life science businesses and academics.
The first of its kind in the Midlands, The BioHub is a unique, managed and equipped facility, located in the Edgbaston Medical Quarter. Its location means that tenant academics and start-ups are placed right in the centre of an established medtech cluster.
As a hub for entrepreneurial activity, The BioHub has been designed to support researchers and start-up businesses in their early stages of development with proof of concept, helping turn innovation-based research into new business and products ready for market.
Ensuring the science hub is further geared towards results, there is additional help and guidance from expert, on-site Laboratory Managers and access to business growth advice. It offers shared state of the art bench space, an office desk and internet access, at what is said to be “a cost effective price”.
The model is similar to the affordable ‘plug-and-play’ biotech incubators that are emerging in the United States.
The brand new and exciting investment will be a major contributor towards the success of Birmingham’s flourishing medical research and healthcare district. In close proximity to the University of Birmingham and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, BioHub tenants will also benefit from access to the diverse network of businesses, research scientists and clinicians based at these and other adjacent life science venues.
Ms Miller-Viney said: “There was a great turn out and it was brilliant to see that the science community is thriving in the West Midlands. We are so proud of this fabulous facility and want to ensure it becomes a thriving hub of people all sparking off each other and helping the UK medical innovation sector grow and develop.
“The brand new development is in the heart of Birmingham’s medical quarter and is very exciting for the future of biomedical science and Birmingham. With The BioHub, we aim to strengthen our healthcare economy and become the leader in biomedical and innovation research in the UK.”
