The recent announcement of new funding for the NRP is great news for the Mid Norfolk economy. With good planning, the growing centre of research excellence in Norwich can create a growing range of opportunities for people and businesses in Mid Norfolk. Just as the Cambridge Research Cluster has created great opportunities for hitherto low income agricultural economies in Cambridgeshire, so mid Norfolk, which so often loses out on investment, can benefit over time from its location on the A11 corridor between these two global hubs of innovation.

Fund of £5m creates 300 science jobs in Norfolk

New laboratories are designed to attract scientific research firms
Thirty new laboratories and offices for 300 research scientists are to be built in Norfolk with a £5m investment fund.

The new development is on land donated by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at Norwich Research Park.
The aim is to attract new science companies and is the first stage of a plan to create up to 5,000 jobs in research by 2021.

There will also be space for new start-ups and for existing firms to expand.

BBSRC will provide £500,000, the East of England Development Agency £1.4m, Greater Norwich Development Partnership £1m, the University of East Anglia £500,000 and the remainder will come from other Norwich Research Park partners.

The new facilities, due to open in the summer, will be managed by a new joint venture company Colney Innovations Limited.

David Parfrey, BBSRC director of finance and director of Colney Innovations Limited, said: "Within one kilometre of this facility, there are no fewer than 2,700 research scientists focussed on health, food and environmental sciences - a unique resource in this country.
"By 2021, we plan to create the facilities for 5,000 new science-related jobs on Norwich Research Park which will make Norfolk one of the world's largest single-site scientific research centres."