Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
concentration of scientific expertise, equipment and libraries and to increase
feedback from industry into the Cambridge scientific community.
This change opened the way for creating the Trinity College backed Cambridge
Science Park in 1979. The impact of the Cambridge Science Park was described in
the Cambridge Phenomenon (Segal et al.
1985
) which was characterised by a
surge in the formation and growth of high-tech firms and associated services which
today
people
2
employ
over
23,000
and
now
forms
the
backbone
of
the
sub-region's successful knowledge-based economy.
In 1979 the idea of extending the University of Surrey's links with industry by
creating the Surrey Research Park was promoted by the University of Surrey with
the planning authority of Guildford in order to secure an allocation in the County
Plan (Structure Plan) for the development of a 70 ac (28.5 ha) site.
3
Their support
gave the University the necessary approval in principle to begin to develop the
idea for the Surrey Research Park.
In 1981 the UK government reduced its funding for the UK higher education
system. This led to those universities which were worst affected by this reduction
of state funding to look at other ways to protect their future using their own
resources. The University of Surrey used this challenge to accelerate its plans for
the development of the Surrey Research Park.
The University formed an internal committee which was chaired by an eminent
industrialist and was tasked to oversee the development of the Park. The com-
mittee recruited a young academic
4
to take on the position of the Director of the
Park to drive the development of the site. The local land use planning authority in
Guildford granted permission in 1983 for the initial phase of development of the
Surrey Research Park.
In 1984 a wave of seven science parks founded in the UK at that time set up the
UK Science Park Association (UKSPA). The Surrey Research Park was one of
these parks but is now 1 of 67 operational parks in the UK that are members of the
UK Science Park Association. The membership numbers of the UK Science Park
Association are noted in Table
1
and Fig.
1
.
The location and names of the UKSPA member parks are noted in Fig.
2
and
Table
1
.
The original eight science parks in the UK were all hosted by universities.
However, over the last 30 years other kinds of hosts in the UK have taken the
science park model and adapted to suit their own objectives. These hosts now
include government defence laboratories such as Porton Down chemical and
biological defence laboratories which host the Tetricus Park, and the Malvern Hills
Science Park which has as its host another UK defence agency complex. A further
important trend that is the location of science parks on corporate research facilities
such as the Unilever R&D facility in Colworth Bedfordshire and the Motor
2
3
Guildford Borough Local Plan, Policies and Proposals 1983, Policy E17.
4
D. Malolm Party
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