The UK is a global leader in research excellence. But turning this research into scalable businesses depends on access to the specialist space, equipment and partners that help IP-rich companies move from development to early production.
This challenge is explored in phase two of a recent report, commissioned by Pioneer Group and The Crown Estate and authored by Henham Strategy. The report, titled Beyond the Capital Gap: How do we develop an operational blueprint to capitalise on UK science, calls for more high-quality labs and shared prototyping infrastructure, particularly outside the Golden Triangle, and highlights the practical requirements of IP-led organisations across industrial technology, advanced manufacturing and deep tech.
At Wilton Centre, this model is already in action. Operated by Pioneer, and one of Europe’s largest R&D sites, Wilton Centre combines laboratory, office and technical space with specialist partners, enabling collaboration between established industry and growing companies and giving early-stage businesses the facilities and expertise they need to develop, validate and scale.
A key part of this environment is CPI, which is based on site. As part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, CPI helps organisations commercialise research and scale technologies, with facilities and expertise spanning biotechnology and biomanufacturing, advanced materials, and pharma and health technologies. CPI and Pioneer share a focus on enabling scale-up, including helping companies demonstrate their technologies, strengthen their investment readiness and access venture capital and public sector funding.
On site, CPI works with companies developing next-generation processes that use significantly less energy than incumbent chemical production. DEScycle, for instance, is developing low-carbon methods for metal recovery using deep eutectic solvents, while Seloxium is advancing selective recovery technologies for valuable metals from industrial waste streams. Azotic, a University of Nottingham spin-out with operations at Wilton Centre, is scaling into early manufacturing and exporting; its technology fixes nitrogen from the air and delivers it efficiently to plant roots, offering an alternative approach at a time of heightened focus on fertiliser supply chains.
Companies like these show what is possible when research, infrastructure and expertise come together in one place. Toby Reid, Executive Director at Pioneer, said: “The report makes it clear that many IP-rich businesses need high-quality labs, shared prototyping capability and the right technical partners to move from innovation to early production. Wilton Centre and CPI help answer that need by bringing specialist space, equipment and expertise together on one site, with a strong base in the North East that supports growth beyond the Golden Triangle. It means companies can test, prove and scale their technologies with the practical support required at each stage.”
The progress of innovative companies at Wilton Centre also highlights the need for sustained support, as Sophie Walton, Director of Strategic Partnerships at CPI, explains: “We need to see more private finance flowing into these technologies and companies, and much more of this activity happening outside the Golden Triangle. Innovation infrastructure is critical, but it needs to go hand in hand with operational expertise and scale up finance for it to be effective. Energy prices are a real factor, and chemical supply chains are often very complex, so we need to understand which ones are critical for UK sovereignty of supply, where manufacturers need immediate strategic support, and which products are ripe for innovation to alternatives. We also need to get better at scaling up our universities’ technologies – they are doing an excellent job of creating new technical ideas – and we need more of this to scale into manufactured products.”
For the UK, there is a clear challenge. Established chemical manufacturing needs to remain competitive to protect supply chain resilience in the short to mid-term. At the same time, emerging technologies need the right environment to scale and help build a more competitive, lower-energy industrial base for the future.
As the UK strengthens its commercialisation pathway, innovation infrastructure, and the enabling ecosystems built around it, remain central to converting research into globally competitive businesses. At Wilton Centre, Pioneer Group, CPI and on-site partners bring that infrastructure and ecosystem together, helping technologies progress from proof of concept to deployment.
For more information, discover Wilton Centre.
