Every 2nd Wednesday of each quarter from 11am to 1pm, tenants are invited to explore the corridors and visit their neighbours’ spaces for networking opportunities. We encourage participating tenants to keep their doors open on this day. It’s not just a chance to meet your neighbours but also a great opportunity to boost your step count!
Month: January 2024
Food Trading & Donating Event
Join us in making a difference at our upcoming Trading & Donating event! This initiative is geared towards supporting Deal Foodbank and addressing food insecurities in our local community. We invite you to participate in two impactful ways.
Trade for a Cause: Bring needed stock and exchange it for items the foodbank has in excess. Your trade not only helps the foodbank manage surplus stock but also ensures that the most vulnerable in our community receive the produce they need.
Donate: If trading isn’t your preference, you can still make a significant impact by donating. Your donations, big or small, will directly support those in need.
Let’s come together to make this event a success and create a positive change in our community. Every contribution counts. See you there!
Find out more here
Food Trading & Donating Event
Join us in making a difference at our upcoming Trading & Donating event! This initiative is geared towards supporting Deal Foodbank and addressing food insecurities in our local community. We invite you to participate in two impactful ways.
Trade for a Cause: Bring needed stock and exchange it for items the foodbank has in excess. Your trade not only helps the foodbank manage surplus stock but also ensures that the most vulnerable in our community receive the produce they need.
Donate: If trading isn’t your preference, you can still make a significant impact by donating. Your donations, big or small, will directly support those in need.
Let’s come together to make this event a success and create a positive change in our community. Every contribution counts. See you there!
Find out more here
The STEM Soapbox
Join us for the next STEM Soapbox at Discovery Park! By attending this event, you can stay up to date with the latest developments from members of our STEM community, and find out how you can work together, opening up conversations about collaboration. You’ll also have the chance to share your updates and news.
You’ll be introduced to new companies and connections in a relaxed setting, with tea, coffee, and pastries provided upon arrival. We hope to see you there!
Register here
WISE Hub: Event 1: Launch & Connect
We’re excited to partner with WISE and Canterbury Christ Church University to bring you a collaborative networking series aiming to give women in STEM the opportunity to connect, learn, and grow.
The first session will bring together WISE members and industry professionals, introducing you to the WISE initiative, and allowing you to form new connections, learn about upcoming events, and engage in knowledge sharing, opening up opportunities for collaboration.
You’ll also hear from Jonathan Barrett FRSA, Founder of Sustainable Engineering, about the importance of using sustainable engineering to create a better world, by minimising waste, using renewable energy, and creating more efficient systems.
Pizza and Pint Social
An afternoon of pizza and drinks at the Barclays Eagle Lab in the Gateway Building.
Come visit the space and meet some of the new faces who’ve joined Discovery Park in the last few months!
Pizza will be available from 4:30pm.
Register here.
FSB Networking at Discovery Park
Barclays Eagle Labs at Discovery Park welcomes you to a breakfast networking event at their incredible co-working space in Sandwich.
Andrew Pledger and Michelle Sole from Barclays will speak about the working space and their support for small business. Martin White, from Supply my Business, will speak about sustainability support for SMEs and Liu Batchelor will speak on presentation and building confidence for SMEs to tell their story.
As always we will have an eclectic mix of guests, so bring your business cards and prepare to make some great connections!
Our events are relaxed, informal, and very popular, so please do book early.
Tickets are free and a light breakfast included. Guests will need to bring photo ID to show at the Visitor Centre.
Register here.
Sustainability Breakfast
Join us for the first of our quarterly sustainability breakfasts at the Barclays Eagle Lab in Discovery Park
The event will be an opportunity to network with likeminded businesses in the area and discuss the sustainability related issues facing the world. We’ll also hear from a range of speakers about what they’re doing in their particular industries, and what sustainable practices you can take away to address your own goals.
A light breakfast will be provided from 8:30am, featuring locally sourced food and drink.
Speaker Profiles:
Martin White:
Four years ago under lockdown, and as part of his personal journey towards greater self-awareness of the environment and climate change, Martin founded his own sustainability consultancy Green Business Hub.
Martin now advises a diverse range of private and public sector clients on their ESG strategy, encouraging them to think more holistically about sustainability rather than solely focusing on climate action and ‘Net Zero’ – because they have to – to include alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and increasingly ‘Social Value Add’ frameworks.
Andrew Pledger:
Andrew is the Ecosystem Manager at Barclays Eagle Labs in Discovery Park. The Eagle Labs mission is to connect the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through a network of business incubators, expertise and support. With access to over 325 years of business expertise and connections, Eagle Labs are a community resource available for everybody. Whether you’re an inventor, an innovator or a mentor, Eagle Labs spaces are conducive to nurturing and growing your idea with support from Barclays and the Eagle Labs network.
Register here
JP Morgan Healthcare Conference: highlights and industry outlook
Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, and Chris Broom, Head of Business Development at Discovery Park, recently attended the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco to build global connections and raise awareness of the opportunities in the UK for the biotech industry, as well as exploring opportunities for Discovery Park Ventures and its portfolio companies. The conference brought together thousands of industry experts from across the globe to discuss the biggest challenges and opportunities for 2024 and beyond.
The outlook from the conference for 2024 was cautious optimism, though overall, very positive. Several large deals were announced at the end of 2023, showing positive signs for the biotech industry. While the market is still in a downturn, brilliant science and innovation will still attract funding to create opportunities for the industry.
There were interesting discussions about what the innovation landscape will be like this year, including the short-term GLP-1 agonist success, and what new innovative drugs we can look forward to in the next decade. Also discussed at the conference was innovation around RNA technologies and the delivery of those — an area Discovery Park tenant and investee company, Vitarka Therapeutics, is active in.
The prominence and opportunity around AI for healthcare was a big topic at the conference, including how AI will help identify targets with specificity using genetic data. Big Tech is pushing more into generative AI for drug discovery to increase efficiency of clinical trials and regulatory approvals. Another common theme among panel discussions was cell and gene therapies. This was no surprise, with the conference coming just a month after the FDA’s approval of two gene therapies for sickle cell disease.
Also discussed were neuroscience, antibody drug conjugates and the importance of women’s health. Supporting the inclusion and empowerment of women is a priority for Discovery Park. Many of Discovery Park Ventures’ investments have gone to female-led businesses. For example, Discovery Park investee BoobyBiome, a UK biotech start-up developing products that deliver vital microbes to support infant gut flora and boost early immune system development, was founded by an all-female team of scientists.
There was a strong presence of UK companies at the conference, representing the UK’s expert capabilities both in academia and in translation. The Department for Business and Trade also attended the conference to promote inward investment opportunities, build confidence in UK life sciences, and connect companies with global investors and partners. Being part of the vibrant atmosphere at JP Morgan demonstrated the potential opportunities that can be gained by enhancing global networks in order to grow the sector.
There is a growing trend for biotech companies to outsource the development and manufacture of drugs in order to benefit from specialist knowledge and lower costs. This paired with increased demand for small molecule drugs presents a significant growth opportunity for CDMOs, evidenced by strong interest from the global CDMO industry in Discovery Park’s Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and drug product manufacturing facilities. CDMOs require advanced facilities integrating the latest technologies to take advantage of this growing demand and Discovery Park presents a promising option for those companies looking to expand their capacity and remain competitive.
Despite the challenging wider economic landscape for the biotech industry, there was a great sense of optimism at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Finance will still be a challenge for the industry, but biotech innovation will always be important due to its impact on people’s lives. Collaboration and forging closer relationships both nationally and internationally will support the UK’s strength in this space.
Photo: Chris Broom and Naz Bashir. With thanks to Michaela Joy Photography and Perkins Coie.
Discovery Park Ventures invests £100K in new tenant Vox Imaging Technology to advance ophthalmic imaging for preclinical research
Discovery Park Ventures (DPV) announces an investment of £100K into Vox Imaging Technology Ltd. (VIT), an ambitious ophthalmic technology company looking to transform eye imaging in preclinical research and improve drug discovery and development. Its compact and customisable instrument is believed to be the first scanning laser ophthalmoscope especially designed for laboratory use, able to produce high-quality data rapidly. Vox Imaging is the eighth investment from DPV’s first fund.
Prevalence of diseases of the eye (such as age-related macular degeneration) and conditions in which the eye may be affected (such as diabetes) is increasing as the population ages. The resultant demand for new and better medicines for these conditions is helping to drive the global drug discovery market, expected to be worth over US $120 billion by 20301, and the need for new research instruments such as the VoxOne scanning laser ophthalmoscope.
Vox Imaging Technology was founded in 2021 by Peter West and Alan Robinson, who have extensive experience in developing innovative ophthalmic imaging systems from roles in industry and academia.
Discovery Park Ventures (DPV) recognised the VIT team’s expertise in this high potential market and the advantages its technology offers over existing products.
The investment will enable the company to move into new premises at Discovery Park and will facilitate the completion of a working prototype and proof of concept testing prior to launch in 2025. The majority of customers are expected to be pharmaceutical and biotech companies or contract research organisations. Following the investment, DPV Director Dr Martino Picardo joins the company as Interim Chairman while fellow DPV Director Emma Palmer Foster joins Vox Imaging as Investor Director.
Peter West, Chief Technology Officer and Founder, Vox Imaging Technology, said: “We’re gratified that Discovery Park Ventures recognised the potential impact of accurate ophthalmic imaging in early-stage research. Not only will their investment help to drive the development of our technology, but Discovery Park also offers the ideal location for us to grow the business with high-specification facilities, access to a wide network of potential partners and advisors, and a strong academic research community on our doorstep.”
Mayer Schreiber, Chairman of Discovery Park Ventures, commented: “High resolution, easy to use preclinical ophthalmic imaging will facilitate progress towards new treatments for eye-related diseases. We’re excited to invest in such a promising business that already calls Kent home and are pleased to welcome the team to Discovery Park.”
DPV was set up by Discovery Park in 2022 to invest in promising, fast-growing life-science companies. The fund recently expanded to £3m and has plans to expand up to £25m in the next three years. DPV invests in novel and disruptive technologies related to Discovery Park’s areas of focus and investee companies have strong collaborative relationships with Discovery Park.