Growing investment for Milton Park businesses
Research commissioned by Milton Park reveals that the combined turnover of businesses located at the science, technology, and business community totals more than £37bn, generating a significant contribution to the Oxfordshire and wider UK economy.
The findings produced by insights firm Beauhurst show that 2021 has been a very good year for businesses at the Park, with public and private equity investment reaching a combined £590m between January and October. Milton Park occupiers Adaptimmune, Immunocore, Exscientia, Oxford Immunotec, and most recently Evotec have all attracted huge levels of investment through floating on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Figures previously reported in the Financial Times showed that in the UK, total funds raised in the life sciences sectors this year have reached £4.25bn already, compared with £2.8bn in 2020.
The work of businesses on Milton Park has led to opportunities for collaboration with national policymakers. The UK government’s Life Sciences Vision initiative outlines plans for the sector’s growth over the next decade. Resident companies Isansys, Immunocore, and Arctoris have had significant involvement in developing the initiative, which seeks to solve some of the biggest healthcare problems of our generation, including cancer, dementia, and infectious diseases such as Covid-19.
The life sciences industry is future-facing at its core and businesses on the Park continue to make strides to inspire budding scientists. This October, pharmaceutical firm Vertex launched a series of STEAM education programmes alongside a new state-of-the-art ‘Learning Lab’ space at Milton Park, giving the opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience of working in a lab-based environment.
Part of Vertex’s £36.5m investment is geared towards improving diversity and inclusion, with a particular focus on encouraging those who may not usually consider a career in science and technology to do so.
