Biomedical cluster office opens in Liverpool Science Park

Liverpool Science Park has agreed a deal with the £25m North West Fund for Biomedical to offer eight desks to start-up businesses in the sector.

SPARK Impact, manager of the sub-fund of the £185m North West Fund, moved to LSP in January 2011. There have been 20 investments made so far in innovative bioscience companies looking to get products and services to market.

Under European programme rules, at least 40% of the £25m North West Fund for Biomedical will be invested in Merseyside, a legacy of its Objective One days.

The new office on the third floor of Innovation Centre 1, on Mount Pleasant, has three companies based there already: urology device business, Albert Medical Devices; nasogastric feeding tube device company; Westco Medical Holdings; and telemedical company, Med ePad.

All three received investments from the North West Fund for Biomedical, and the move to the cluster office means they will be in close proximity to expertise at SPARK as well as taking advantage of LSP's location in Liverpool's rebranded Knowledge Quarter, or university district.

The biomedical office offers tenants shared office space, a private meeting room and car parking at LSP as well as providing the tenants with printing facilities, lockable storage space and serviced internet access. A further five companies have expressed strong interest in locating in the biomedical cluster office when their current funding rounds complete.

Dr Penny Attridge, senior investment director at SPARK Impact said: "Giving our investee companies the opportunity to benefit from inexpensive office space in a supportive environment, close to our fund managers, places them in an excellent position to grow their businesses."

Chris Musson, chief executive of LSP said: "The park is already home to an array of knowledge-based companies from a huge variety of sectors and we are delighted to team up with SPARK Impact to launch the dedicated biomedical cluster office.

The life sciences sector is already a major contributor to Liverpool's economy, employing 4,000 people and generating £250m annually.

The North West Fund for Biomedical is jointly financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank and available to support small and medium sized businesses in the North West of England to start, develop and grow.