The Babraham Research Campus is a significant scaleup hub in the UK’s life sciences ecosystem, located near Cambridge. It plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation and supporting the growth of biotechnology and early-stage scaling life sciences companies. Within 430 acres of parkland, home to over 60 companies, 2,000 employees and 300 academic researchers, the campus is focused on creating new discoveries, therapeutics, jobs and growth to support the UK economy. It aims to be a leading sustainable ecosystem and one of the best places in the world for discovery bioscience research and innovation. It brings together world leading bioscience research and business to accelerate scientific discovery and to help build and scale businesses. 

They do this through the many programmes they offer. The most important one being The Accelerate@Babraham programme which has demonstrated substantial impact on early-stage life science ventures by providing critical support and resources. Launched with the goal of bridging the gap between scientific research and commercial success, this programme is particularly beneficial for early-stage companies in the pre-seed or seed stage that are looking to refine their business strategies, build networks, and prepare to scale up.The programme’s ability to accelerate scientific discovery and fundraising, coupled with its provision of state-of-the-art facilities and expert mentoring, has enabled participating companies to achieve significant milestones in a relatively short period. 

In a 2020 review of the Campus’ economic impact, Campus-based companies estimated that they had on average accelerated their fundraising by six months and increased the amount of funds raised by 20%.  It is also estimated that employee numbers of resident firms are around 20% larger than they otherwise may have been due to the Campus location. The total market value of the largest 14 companies on site was calculated to be £5bn. Companies that have scaled at Babraham include Kymab, Bicycle Therapeutics, bit.bio. 

Babraham Research Campus website