Monthly Newsletter

This year is the 30th anniversary of UKSPA, the United Kingdom Science Park Association. 

Join us at the ICC Birmingham in July for our International Conference, Exhibition and Awards Dinner at the International Conference Centre.
 
Join us at the UKSPA Conference at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre on 10 and 11 July 2014 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its formation. Event Sponsors are Marks & Clerk. 

The event will be headlined by Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science, and closed by Phil Smith, Chair of the Technology Strategy Board (pictured left). 
 
Other plenary speakers include Professor Birgitte Anderson, Director of The Big Innovation Centre, Neil Crockett, CEO of the Connected Digital Economy Catapult and Dr Sarah Main, Director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), the UK’s leading independent scientific advocacy group.
 
Around 25 other speakers will also make presentations at the Parallel sessions that are taking place over the two days.
 
A total of over 800 delegates from both the UK and Overseas are expected to attend the pre-conference event at MIRA, the two-day Conference,Gala Awards Dinner and the Exhibition.

UKSPA Awards Launched

Six awards will be presented at a glittering awards dinner attended by around 500 people on the Thursday evening. Awards will be presented to the sector's most successful

• tenant company,
• innovation environment,
• partnership project,
• building (design and sustainabilty) project,
• innovative project and
• Innovation Centre/Technology Incubator.

The Awards Dinner will be hosted by broadcaster and award winning science journalist Michael Mosley. He has been named 'medical journalist of the year' by the BMA and recently presented “Inside the Human Body” for BBC1, as well as the acclaimed “Story of Science” for BBC2.
 
The full criteria for entry and further details of the Awards nomination process are on the website.

more about Awards

Sponsorship and Exhibition

An integral part of the UKSPA 30th Anniversary Summit will be the Exhibition - sponsored by the BEST Network. It will provide delegates and exhibitors with an unrivalled opportunity to interact and informally network.
 
The Exhibition Hall will be the venue for all networking, refreshment breaks and will add a great deal to the vitality of the international Conference. Exhibitors will showcase the techniques and products that will help support the future development of Science and Innovation Park services. 
 
The Exhibition will feature 52 stands and two sponsored seminar theatres. It will be a hive of activity, and for the first time it will be open to members of the public,as well as Conference delegates. 

About Our Speakers: 

Dr. David Docherty,CEO, National Centre for Universities and Business

David Docherty is Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business, and Chairman of the Digital Television Group, the industry body for digital television in the UK. 

He was the first BBC Director of New Media and Deputy Managing Director of BBC Television. After leaving the BBC he led Telewest’s (now Virgin’s) drive into broadband content and services as MD Broadband.
 
In the public sector, David was Chair of Governors of the University of Bedfordshire, and a member of various government advisory panels on new media, technology, and higher education. He serves on the Research Excellence Framework Panel and HEFCE’s Enterprise and Skills Committee. He is on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Digital Economy Panel, the Arts and Humanities Research Council Creative Economy Board and served on  the Technology Strategy Board Interim Advisory Board for the Digital Economy Catapult.
 
David’s other activities include serving on the Steering Groups of DESCRIBE, The Future of Innovation in Television Technology Taskforce (FITT), and Going Global 2013, and serving on the Panels of REF 2014 and the Space Advisory Panel. He is also a member of the National HE Stem Programme Advisory Forum, the UK~IRC Advisory Board, the Universities UK Employability Business and Industry Policy Network, and the Gateway to Research project board.
 
He has served on the management board of The Society of Authors, written extensively on media and technology convergence for the Guardian, the Financial Times and other national newspapers and is in regular demand as a speaker at the world’s leading media and education conferences.

About Marks & Clerk

Marks & Clerk is a well-established intellectual property firm with over 125 years’ experience, advising clients in protecting patents, trade marks, designs and copyright. Nationally, we are the UK’s largest firm of patent and trade mark attorneys and we have over 620 people worldwide. Their strong international presence is represented by offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

more about Marks & Clerk

About The Best Network

About EssensysThe BEST Network brings together high-growth Business Environments for Science and Technology. It has grown since the first acquisition in 2002 to become the largest privately owned portfolio of science and technology parks in the UK.

more about The BEST

About Essensys

essensys’ unique and award winning Information Communications and Technology (ICT) services have been designed and built specifically to meet the changing and varied demands of the UK’s Science Parks, Innovation Centres and Flexible Workspaces. Delivering cloud based ICT services with breath-taking simplicity, JEFF™ is the ultimate management tool; offering immediate provisioning, automated service delivery, reporting, billing and feature control. JEFF™ helps to manage the lifecycle of your clients and removes the operational headaches from your centre teams. 

more about Essensys

more about Visit 2014 Summit

more about UKSPA