Innovation Centre celebrates incredible five years of success

The Innovation Centre Knowledge Gateway (ICKG) based at the University of Essex is celebrating its 5th anniversary with its thriving community of businesses.

Some of the first businesses to join ICKG five years ago helped cut the cake at the anniversary event attended by fellow companies and linked organisations.

ICKG is at the heart of the University’s Knowledge Gateway research and technology park and is managed by specialist operator Oxford Innovation Space which oversees the largest network of innovation centres across the UK and Ireland.

Close to 50 businesses are now based at ICKG and since opening in 2019, the ICKG team has supported 250 companies including members, hot-deskers and student enterprises.

This support includes ICKG Innovation Directors delivering 900 hours of one-to-one mentoring support to ICKG businesses. In five years, ICKG companies have supported more than 500 jobs, raised more than £6.5m in grants and investment and delivered £20m in value to the local economy.

ICKG Manager Georgina Watts said:“We’re delighted to be celebrating five years working with Colchester businesses. We are proud of the community we have been able to build here, with our members and with University of Essex. It’s been a joy to watch the businesses in our centre grow over the past five years, and we can’t wait to see what they do next!”

“We're proud to provide a home to many successful businesses”

Registrar Bryn Morris said: “ICKG has had such a positive impact over the past five years and helped us establish a thriving business community on the Knowledge Gateway. It has also become a hub for the regional community with a busy calendar of events bringing so many businesses and organisations onto our Colchester Campus.

“We’re incredibly proud to now provide a home to many successful businesses at ICKG and the neighbouring Parkside sites.

“ICKG companies bring so much to our community from establishing partnerships with our researchers to offering numerous opportunities to our students through placements, internships, and job opportunities. We’re excited to see ICKG’s impact continue to grow in the coming years by supporting start-ups and growing businesses.”

The impact of the ICKG is even wider thanks to the growing regional business network the team has fostered in partnership with the University. ICKG has hosted 100 workshops, welcoming 4,500 event attendees. Businesses based at ICKG are enthusiastic supporters of Essex students and have also offered internships and placement opportunities to 90 students from the University of Essex. Many have also connected with the University’s business engagement team on research and innovation.

“We’ve watched the Centre's vison come to life”

Chris Frogner, from award-winning insurance specialist Arma Karma, said: "We were attracted to become an ICKG member mainly due to the culture of innovation. We wanted to be part of a community of like-minded tech businesses. We were a new business and we needed a support system around us.

"We started as a two-person co-founder type organisation. We brought on interns from the University of Essex and now we’ve built to a team of five. We’re growing very quickly. We’ve covered over £4 million of possessions and ICKG has been there the whole way to support us on our journey.

"The culture and environment is amazing. Loads of like-minded individuals. You’re constantly passing friends and colleagues in the halls, people that we work with and we can share experiences from our different startup journeys."

Richard Wood, from Expedite Solutions, said: "We’re proud to mark five years at the Innovation Centre as one of the first companies to join its journey. Drawn in by the strong business community, valuable mentoring, and  exceptional facilities, we’ve watched the centre's vison come to life, benefiting our business every step of the way."

At the heart of the Knowledge Gateway

ICKG is part of the Knowledge Gateway research and technology park and was initially supported by funding from the UK Government’s Local Growth Fund overseen by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Knowledge Gateway is set in mature parkland on the Colchester Campus and has been growing apace since 2010 thanks to significant investment by the University. It now includes ICKG plus Parkside Office Village and the £21m Essex Business School which opened in 2015.

The Knowledge Gateway community continues to grow, ICKG welcomed 14 new businesses in the past year, MSX International moved its UK headquarters to Parkside in August 2024 and the University opened the new Health, Wellbeing and Care Hub at Parkside in March 2024.

The Innovation Centre is also home to the University’s business engagement team, the Essex Startups team targeted at students and graduates, and investment platform Angels@Essex.