28 December 2020
Construction work of the Maidstone Innovation Centre has continued at pace at the Kent Medical Campus. The building is on course to open in summer 2021 and Maidstone Borough Council has welcomed its first tenant – CREATION.co – one of the world’s leading consultancies for insights-led health strategy.
Maidstone’s Innovation Centre will be a mixed-use med tech-based development providing flexible office space, facilities and business support for small and medium-sized enterprises working in the life science, healthcare and medical sectors.
Daniel Ghinn, Founder and CEO at Creation said: “We are delighted. As an insights-led strategy company, we now work with most of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies. We are involved with delivering some of the most exciting data-led projects to teams around the world and we wanted to build on our significant growth in 2020 by creating a new strategic HQ. Having been a Maidstone-based company for over 20 years, we are really excited to be part of this new development at Kent Medical Campus.”
The firm is currently based at Maidstone House in King Street, but also has offices in Philadelphia in the USA.
The brand-new Innovation Centre forms part of the North Kent Enterprise Zone and will be a perfect addition for businesses by creating an inspiring environment with a flexible, supportive and professional approach. For those looking to start, develop or transform their companies, it will fast become the place to impress clients, motivate their teams and drive their future. Despite delays to the work because of the Covid-19 lockdown, building work has continued and the Innovation Centre is now taking shape in preparation for new businesses to move in during the summer of 2021.
Maidstone Borough Council Leader – Cllr Martin Cox, said: “The Innovation Centre is a very exciting new facility for Maidstone which is going to help businesses and entrepreneurs in the med-tech sector stand-out from the crowd. One of MBCs priorities is Embracing Growth and Enabling Infrastructure’ and this fantastic new building will do just that. It will encourage and enable new companies to leap into business right here in Maidstone, the business capital of Kent.”
The project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund 2014-20 and has previously received funding from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP). Maidstone Borough Council is reinvesting over £5.2m in recovered business rates from the Enterprise Zone into the building.
ENDS
Editors notes:
The Maidstone Innovation Centre scheduled to be open for business in summer 2021 and will act as a visible, engaging and vibrant business destination at the heart of the Kent Medical Campus and North Kent Enterprise Zone. Situated beside Junction 7 of the M20 – a site identified in the Maidstone Borough Local Plan as an opportunity to capitalise on the development of the area to attract high value, knowledge intensive employment and business as a boost to the local economy.
The Maidstone Borough Council – Innovation Centre project received £5.7m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union, the ERDF helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. Funding will continue to be delivered to 2023.
For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
The Maidstone Innovation Centre is part of The North Kent Enterprise Zone which includes Innovation Park Medway, and sites within Ebbsfleet Garden City.
Part of the project to deliver the Centre has included the design and delivery of the MedTech Innovation Programme (M-IP), a business incubation and acceleration programme supporting entrepreneurs and innovators in the early stages of business development and growth. The business support programme is available to businesses across the South East Enterprise Partnership area and is funded by SELEP. Once the Innovation Centre is constructed the business support programme will be run from there.
If you would like further details, please contact the Maidstone Borough Council Communications Team – email: communications@maidstone.gov.uk or call: 01622 602560
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