At the centre of the Innovation Martlesham development will be a purpose built 'Knowledge Hub' facility which will meet a range of academic and business needs to maximise their synergistic interaction.  The knowledge hub facility is the subject of this project submission.

Innovation Martlesham is an ambitious project to establish an independent innovation park adjacent to BT's Research & Development operation at Adastral Park Martlesham, Suffolk.  It will bring together industrial, academic and business resources in a collaborative environment to create new solutions, products and services, carry out research and skills development, and grow businesses in a 'green' environment.  Its focus is information communication technology (ICT) systems and will foster the interaction between organisations in this sector.  It is intended to provide a critical mass of ICT activity which will track and generate a skills base enhancing the growth of the region.  The development of this ICT cluster is a fundamental part of achieving the growth targets for the Ipswich and Felixstowe Growth Point nodes.  Innovation Martlesham itself should contribute in excess of 1,500 new jobs for the area with extensive additional job creation in the locality also resulting.

The Knowledge Hub will be at the centre of Innovation Martlesham providing the impetus for private sector investment on the park whilst establishing a quality base line for future development, and providing a key attraction for ICT R & D businesses seeking the provision of these facilities, linked with academic institutions and provision of a skills base.

Because of the academic and incubation elements of the Knowledge Hub public sector resources are required to finance the construction of the building.

Project Scope

The Knowledge Hub is to be state-of-the-art accommodation combining:

• academic research and teaching;
• industrial / commercial training suite;
• incubators for SMEs and niche teams;
• forum for events and seminars;
• knowledge transfer suite

The building to which GAF funding is proposed to be contributed, would be on a plot of approximately two acres.

The proposed building would be 7,500m², 2000m² of which would be for business/incubation use, the remainder education uses together with a small common area.  The final building size will be confirmed following a detailed business case assessment which is currently under preparation.

The project scope extends from its current early stage of inception to completion of the building for occupation by businesses and for education purposes.  The grant would be used to contribute to the total capital costs for the scheme including professional fees and costs.

Aims

Outputs:

• The principal output is the construction of a 7,500m² building, 2000m² of which would be for business / incubation use, and a 5000m² for teaching learning activities.
• A secondary output would be the establishment of a consortium of academic institutes to form an "ICT academic network" plus an organisational structure to oversee the governance of the learning and teaching elements and academic - industry collaboration for ICT.

• The Hub would be expected to deliver the following student numbers.

  Predicted student numbers	2011	2013
  Apprenticeships	792	1452
  Foundation degrees and equivalent	330	990
  Bachelor degrees and equivalents	330	990
  Master degrees and equivalents	198	198
  Professional programmes	17	17

Outcomes

There are three principal outcomes from this project derived either directly from the scheme itself or from the stimulus this scheme will give to Innovation Martlesham:

• Substantially increase the business activity in the ICT sector in the Haven Gateway
• Re-invigoration of the brownfield Adastral Park site and its establishment at the core of a regional ICT cluster

Substantially increase the skills levels in the ICT sector benefiting both the local workforce and the development of the ICT cluster

Status

Funding for 2008/09 £1,000,000

Status as at 30 September 2008:

• Initial preparatory work being undertaken.

Status as at 31 December 2008:

• Discussions continue with potential major fundholders on whether the knowledge hub will be a refurbishment or rebuild.

Status as at 31 March 2009:

• Discussions continue with potential major fundholders.