Norwich Research Park (NRP) is a business community located to the southwest of Norwich in East Anglia close to the A11 and the A47 roads. Set in a 568-acre (230-hectare) area of parkland, it is one of five Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded Research and Innovation Campuses. It is the only site with three BBSRC funded research institutes and is considered as having one of Europe's largest concentrations of researchers in the fields of agriculture, genomics, health and the environment.[1]
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| Established | 1992 |
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| Budget | £100M annual research spend by partners |
Field of research | Plants, Environment, Food and Health, Food Innovation, Microbes in the Food Chain |
| President | David Parfrey |
| Address | Norwich Research Park |
| Location | Norwich, Norfolk, England 52°37′26″N 1°13′26″E / 52.623894°N 1.223946°E |
| NR4 7UG | |
| Website | norwichresearchpark |
The focus of the community is on creating and supporting new companies and jobs based on bioscience.[2] It is also a partnership between the University of East Anglia, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, and four independent world-renowned research institutes (John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, Earlham Institute, and The Sainsbury Laboratory) linked to the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. There are over forty businesses located on the site over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of office and lab space with over 12,000 people, including 3,000 researchers and clinicians with an annual research spend of over £164 million.[3]
History and facilities
The research park was officially launched in 1992 when it comprised the schools of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the University of East Anglia, the John Innes Centre, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) Food Science Laboratory and the British Sugar Technical Centre.[4] The MAFF Laboratory moved to York in 1992. The British Sugar Technical Centre closed its laboratories in Norwich in 2001.[5] Facilities located on the site include:
- The John Innes Centre (JIC), an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910.[6][7] In 2017, the John Innes Centre was awarded a gold Athena SWAN Charter award for equality in the workplace.[8]
- The University of East Anglia (UEA), founded in 1963, a public research university and one of the nation's most-cited research institutions worldwide.[9] The university ranks in the Top 1% worldwide according to the Times Higher Education world rankings,[10] and within the world Top 100 for research excellence in the Leiden Ranking, with UEA "often out-performing Russell Group universities".[11]
- The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL), a research institute that carries out fundamental biological research and technology development on aspects of plant disease, plant disease resistance and microbial symbiosis in plants. It was founded in 1988.[12]
- The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), founded in 2001, a large National Health Service academic teaching hospital and is a partner with the University of East Anglia in the delivery of courses. It is one of the largest hospitals in the United Kingdom in terms of in-patient capacity.[13]
- The Earlham Institute (EI), founded in 2009, a life science research institute focused on exploring living systems by applying computational science and biotechnology to answer ambitious biological questions and generate enabling resources.[14]
- The Quadram Institute, which opened in 2018, a centre for food and health research. The institute is a partnership between Quadram Institute Bioscience, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the University of East Anglia and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).[15][16]