Innovation Centre
A thriving community of innovators, entrepreneurs and like minded businesses
Flexible office space, meeting rooms and business support
Nestled between the Essex Business School and the Parkside Office Village the Innovation Centre is extending the established business community on the Knowledge Gateway research and technology park.
Located on our Colchester Campus, the Centre is at the heart of our Knowledge Gateway masterplan, in which we envisage 2,000 people eventually working and growing their businesses here.
Currently there are over 40 businesses taking advantage of state-of-the-art office space, flexible working solutions and excellent in business support services that are allowing businesses to scale up.
Customers are being attracted by the excellent business accommodation and also the flourishing business community, academic support and on-campus resources and facilities provided by a leading research-intensive university.
This development further supports our commitment to boosting the economic impact of the University in the eastern region with partners such as Oxford Innovation Space.
Essex joins forces with Oxford Innovation Space
Oxford Innovation Space, the UK’s largest innovation centre operator, is working in partnership with the University to manage this space. Jo Stevens, Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Space, said: “Focusing on supporting early stage businesses and start-ups from the region and spin-outs from the University, we provide a range of office space solutions, impressive meeting and conference facilities and access to specialist on-site business support.”
Mission Cafe and business support
When visiting the Innovation Centre, Knowledge Gateway you can grab a drink or a range of delicious food at the Mission Cafe. You can also drop-in to see the University's Business Engagement team, which works with companies across the UK, and Essex Startups, which supports entrepreneurial students and spin-outs.