Â鶹ÊÓƵ plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation at the Babraham Research Campus by driving translational research and entrepreneurial initiatives, supporting early-stage companies through access to state-of-the-art facilities, and building impact-driven collaborations with industry.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ strategy
The Â鶹ÊÓƵ is committed to embedding an entrepreneurial culture across the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and the wider Babraham Research Campus. By leveraging its research strengths, the Â鶹ÊÓƵ aims to build capacity, foster cross-sector engagement, and maximise the societal and economic impact of its research. This commitment extends to identifying and protecting innovations, developing tailored translational strategies, and managing intellectual property in collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders, including industry, R&D partners, charities, and funders. The Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s unique combination of strategic focus, state-of-the-art research facilities, and close collaboration with the Campus underpins a thriving translational culture that drives impactful research toward lifelong health benefits.
Team changes and strategic appointments
The 2023-24 period has seen enhanced collaboration between the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) team and Campus teams. This approach has fostered entrepreneurial skill development, strengthened translational efforts, and enhanced career mentoring across the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and Campus. Notably, the Commercialisation Manager and the Campus Director of Science and Entrepreneurship/Chief Innovation and Science Officer have engaged in cross-institutional roles, supported by a Royal Society Entrepreneur-in- Residence fellowship for 2024-2026.
The close collaboration has significantly benefited initiatives such as , the Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP) PhD Programme, enhanced Campus translational training, and new academic-industry collaborations under the BBSRC Campus Innovation and Accelerator Award (CIAA) grant.
Access to scientific facilities and collaborations
The Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s facilities continue to provide crucial support to early-stage commercial companies, offering research collaboration opportunities, staff training, and access to cutting-edge scientific resources. 33 Campus companies (75% of all research active Babraham Research Campus companies) utilise Â鶹ÊÓƵ facilities.
Additionally, the Â鶹ÊÓƵ has engaged in 32 R&D collaborations with Campus companies between 2019 and 2024, demonstrating its significant role in fostering industry partnerships.
Launched in 2022, the BBSRC Campus CTP programme has successfully supported 22 collaborative industry PhD studentships, further strengthened by the integration of the Accelerate@Babraham programme for second-year students. The CTP programme sets a new benchmark in bioscience education by integrating industry placements, translational skills development, and exposure to entrepreneurial training through Accelerate@Babraham.
The CTP programme has been a key enabler of collaborations between the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and industry, supporting training of the next generation of innovators, while seeding new relationships between the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and industry researchers. Industrial supervisors provide extensive industry engagement, ensuring students have continuous access to a unique set of expertise and resources. Industry partners have acknowledged the programme’s value, emphasising its significant industry engagement and entrepreneurship opportunities, as well as the strong collaboration between the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and companies.
Wider campus networks and innovation support
The Â鶹ÊÓƵ continues to develop and expand its facility offerings to respond to researcher needs, exemplified by investments in cutting-edge technologies such as the Flow Cytometry facility’s new image-based sorting capability (BD FACSDiscover S8 Spectral Sorter), with pilot use supported by a CIAA grant. This facility provides an unmatched provision of technology and expertise to researchers at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, on the Babraham Research Campus and to the wider R&D sector. The addition of combined cell sorting and cell imaging capability enables the facility to support cutting-edge research, benefiting both academic and industry stakeholders and helping progress innovative science along the R&D pathway, getting novel technologies closer to patients.
Through these initiatives, the Â鶹ÊÓƵ continues to strengthen its position as a key driver of scientific and economic impact, fostering a thriving innovation ecosystem that bridges fundamental research with real-world application.