EEDA - East of England Development Agency

Why Enterprise Hubs?

The East of England is the only UK region to feature in the European research and development "top ten" and has the highest level of EU research and development partnering. To ensure the region continues to develop research and enterprise-driven, EEDA works with partners to develop Enterprise Hubs — incubation centres to provide space for ideas to grow.

Our achievements:

• creating the right environment for growth: EEDA's Enterprise Hubs programme continues to respond to specific growing local business clusters by creating the right kind of physical and networking environment for young innovative businesses to develop. For example, this year saw the start on site of the new OrbisEnergy centre at Lowestoft — to act as a focus for the growing renewables energy sector in the region. Opening is expected in autumn 2008.
  
  The East of England Production Innovation Centre in Norwich is providing Europe-leading digital television and film production facilities in Norwich. This successful EEDA-funded transformation of the former Anglia TV production facilities is now positioning the city once again at the forefront of creative industries development — with further EEDA funding awarded to equip the centre with high-definition facilities.
  
  EEDA has also continued to invest in encouraging the growth of the bio-technology sector in the Cambridge area. At the Babraham Bioincubator, EEDA has seen continued high occupation of the Meditrina building.
  
  The Luton Innovation and Business Base is now open and attracting tenants. There have also been similar developments in Peterborough — where the first phase of a new innovation centre was opened in January 2008 — and at Cranfield University, where a new integrated vehicle health management system is under development with EEDA funding.
  
  EEDA is also partnering a number of major corporate organisations in the creation of new enterprise science parks. During 2008, we expect to report positive progress on development at Colworth, in Bedfordshire, and Martlesham, near Ipswich, where we are working with Unilever and BT respectively.
  
  
• funding innovation: EEDA provides a range of funding to support innovation and enterprise in the region. The Finance for Innovation (FFI) portfolio includes the Grant for Research and Development, the Proof of Concept Fund and Selective Finance for Investment in England.
  
  EEDA's innovative competition Running the Gauntlet was another highlight during the year — attracting regional entrepreneurs to hone their business skills in order to attract equity funding.