Durham University: New £1.4m enterprise zone at NETPark opens

The enterprise zone named Orbit, is now inviting SMEs in the North East to sign up and join the community based at at NETPark, Sedgefield.

Specialist guidance and support
Businesses who become members of Orbit, will get targeted guidance and support from our researchers, test facilities, the chance to attend regular workshops and events and the use of one of the flexible, private or collaborative office spaces.

Not only will businesses receive support from our experts, but they will also have opportunities for collaborative working and expert advice from our partners at Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and Business Durham.

Collaboration and innovation
Orbit, which received funding from Research England and the European Regional Development Fund, is just one of the collaborative projects between us and partner agencies at NETPark.

Two of our spin-out companies, Kromek, which specialise in digital colour x-ray imaging, and Magnitude Biosciences, which has pioneered the use of the tiny nematode worm C. elegans to accelerate early pre-clinical drug development for biotech and pharma, also occupy part space at the NETPark.

This most recent collaboration project brought together several North East-based agencies, including VEST Construction, Space Architects, Identity Consult (development consultants) and Cundall (engineering consultancy).