Kent Medical Campus Enterprise Zone – Innovation Centre design work

To contribute towards covering the cost of anticipated total design stage costs of £260,000 for the development of an Innovation Centre on Kent Medical Campus Enterprise Zone.

High grade office space for SMEs in the life sciences sector

The 2,787sqm (30,000 sqft.) Innovation Centre will offer SMEs focused on life science, healthcare and med-tech activities access to a combination of high-grade office accommodation and business support providing a nurturing environment for start-ups and growing businesses. In doing so the project seeks to address a significant under provision by the private sector in the SELEP area.

The centre will also provide conferencing and meeting space to assist in the formation of a “research hotel” where businesses, academics and medical professionals can collaborate to enable new ideas to be developed and introduce new products to the market.

Sector Support Fund

The Sector Support Fund (SSF) is a £500,000 per year pot to support one-off, discrete pieces of work of a pan-LEP nature with a sector focus that brings demonstrable benefit and has support across the LEP.

It uses Growing Places Fund (GPF) Revenue grant to fund a programme of works to support the sector focussed activities that are being undertaken on a pan-LEP basis and predominantly led by the SELEP working groups. When the Growing Places Fund (GPF) grant was originally awarded, a proportion of the fund was earmarked as revenue which is being used for the Sector Support Fund.