Sci-Tech Daresbury Networkhub

Sci-Tech Daresbury Campus

 










Jane Lambert

Sci-Tech Daresbury is a national science and innovation campus and enterprise zone located in the borough of Halton in Cheshire.  It is close to the M56 motorway which puts it within easy reach of Liverpool and Manchester. Networkhub is Sci-Tech's virtual network of around 5,000 people who include entrepreneurs, investors and professional advisors.

Networkhub holds 10 breakfast meetings a year between 08:00 and 09:30 on a Friday morning which are attended by between 100 and 150 individuals.  Paul Treloar, Networkhub's Business Support Manager, explains what happens at those meetings in this YouTube video.  The main event of the morning takes place around 09:00.  Paul invites selected members of the audience to introduce themselves and their businesses. If the speaker has news that might interest the audience such as a source of funding or the opening of an office on campus the pitch is his or her opportunity to mention it.  This video records the January 2024 pitching event.  

As networking can be daunting for some, Networkhub has published some useful Tips for Beginners on the About page of its website.  It is some way down the page so it will be necessary to scroll down to find it.  Equally useful are the short YouTube videos linked to the "Frequently Asked Questions" further down the "About" page.   Those resources will be useful if you live in Timbuktu, Kalamazoo or elsewhere and have no immediate plans to visit Daresbury or anywhere else in the UK.

After breakfast, attendees are invited to attend a talk in a nearby meeting room,  Yesterday's talk was given by Colin McLaughlin, Head of Partnerships and Engagement for Cyber Security, and Elizabeth Mullis, Business Partnerships Manager of Lancaster University.  The University has built up a Cyber Security Research Centre that combines the expertise of teachers and researchers from all its faculties.  It has an excellent reputation which is why GCHQ has chosen to work with it in its Manchester location,  In their talks, Colin and Elizabeth reminded us that cyber-security affects every business but they stressed that as well as being an overhead it presents a business opportunity.  The University can help businesses that wish to offer their products and services in this area through collaborative research and innovation.  I asked about sources of funding and was assured by Elizabeth and Colin that it was available

I have been coming to the breakfast meetings for many years.  I first wrote about them in Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus on 9 May 2011,  In those days they required personal attendance.  During the lockdown, John Leake, Business Growth Director at Sci-Tech Daresbury and Paul Treloar, started to run virtual business meetings online.  These were so successful that John and Paul continued after the pandemic had subsided.  I am very grateful to them for that because I can enjoy the pitches and post-breakfast talks without incurring a 100-mile round trip just as the M60 and M56 start to get busy.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article can call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message on my contact form.

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