UKSPA Directory 2017 2017-18 | Page 116

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