Work has begun on a new £3.5 million facility at the Alba Campus that will put some of Scotland's most innovative young technology companies on the fast track to success
Work on the new Alba Innovation Centre started on the site in Livingston earlier this month (November 2005).
The project, which is being funded by Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian and is due for completion by August 2006, will create a new 2300m2 centre that will be able to house up to 54 young start-up companies at any time.
The state-of-the-art centre, which will also include a shared reception, meeting rooms, conference facilities and catering services, will be able to offer companies much more than simply accommodation.
One of the most important elements of the centre's approach will be a package of assistance that will include support on funding, sales and marketing, business planning, technical product development and intellectual property.
Neil Francis, director for growing businesses with Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, says: "Simply handing young, dynamic technology companies the key to high quality accommodation and letting them get on with it is not enough.
"We also need to build in a package of specialist support, which involves a high level of commitment from them to help them through the initial period of their existence.
"It's a tough, competitive world out there and if we want Scotland to be a hotbed of innovative and enterprising companies working at the cutting edge of technology, then we need to be just as innovative and enterprising in the support we offer them.
"The Alba Innovation Centre is part of the pipeline of assistance available to companies with high growth potential".
An added attraction of the new facility is its location at the heart of the Alba Campus, giving young technology companies a presence in the community that forms Scotland's world class centre of excellence in the research, design and development of microchip and associated technologies.
Although work on the project only began on site this month, the concept for the facility has already proved popular and temporary accommodation has been provided to four companies wanting to locate to the Alba Innovation Centre when it is completed next year.
Innovation Centres (Scotland) (ICS) has been appointed to manage the Alba-based operation, which will follow a similar model to the highly successful Hillington Park Innovation centre, which it operates in Renfrewshire.
Ross Clark, innovation manager, ICS, says: "We are delighted to have already had significant interest for the new centre at Alba and even secured temporary accommodation so we can start working with new companies.
"We've got off to a solid start and expect that will continue as a formal marketing campaign gets underway and hope to replicate the success we have had at Hillington.
"The Alba Innovation Centre will combine quality accommodation, available on flexible terms, with intensive business support, which is attractive to young innovative companies.
"We believe we have a winning formula that will foster and support new enterprises and continue the development of a dynamic, high value economy".
It is anticipated that the Alba Innovation Centre will create in excess of ten new companies a year, while injecting almost £5 million into the national economy over the next five years.
