116
Scotland | Full Member
UKSPA Directory 2017
The Park’s objective is
to promote interaction
with academic staff of
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt
University
Research
Park
L ocati on
Riccarton
Edinburgh
EH14 4AP
Contact detai l s
Research & Enterprise Services
T: 0131 451 3192
E: [email protected]
heriot-watt-researchpark.co.uk
Heriot-Watt University is a science and engineering based institution which, throughout
its history, has been committed to recognising the needs of industry whilst maintaining
high academic standards. Its particular strengths lie in the fields of electronic and
computer technology, biotechnology, offshore and petroleum engineering, electro-
optics, photonics, mathematics, and distance learning. During the 1960s the expanding
University decided to move all of its departments’ facilities from the original position in
the centre of the City of Edinburgh to a new greenbelt location on the western edge of
the city just to the south of the airport. The Park was established in 1971 as an integral
part of the new Riccarton campus of the University.
Objectives
The objective of the Park is to provide
a location in which the interaction and
collaboration between tenant companies’
staff and the academic members of staff
of the University may take place with ease,
and thus provide the most favourable
conditions in which new industrial
developments can be located, encouraged,
and enabled to grow.
The University seeks to maintain a
balance of sources of tenants of the Park
comprising external companies, spin-off
companies (that is, companies established
and owned either in total or in part by
academic members of staff), and
University-based technology transfer
groups and Institutes. The University
seeks to encourage informal as well as
formal links between its staff and the
tenant companies, and a free interchange
of non-confidential information in order
that the shared experience may be of
benefit to both parties.
Progress to Date
Land: The Park consists of a gross area
of 166 acres, which is being developed
in a number of stages. The presently
developed area of the Park consists of
some 120 acres . A further net area of 35
acres is available for development.
Premises: A mixture of owner-occupied,
custom-designed laboratories and
advanced laboratory accommodation
in units varying in size from 100m 2
to 2,230m 2 . The former buildings are
designed to provide the maximum
degree of flexibility in internal
arrangement. The emphasis is upon
providing a pleasing but functional
structure allowing the maximum
flexibility, control, and security for each
company, as well as allowing each
organisation to establish its own identity.
The general criteria for tenant
selection are that there should be a
significant proportion of research and
development in the activities to be carried
out at the Park, that there should be some
equivalence between the disciplines
employed by the tenant and at least one
department of the University, and that
there should be a willingness in principle
to collaborate with the University where
such co-operation is possible. Serviced
sites may be leased for the construction