The Sciopolis team has been on the move, connecting with innovators, exploring new campuses and diving deep into the future of place-based innovation. Here’s what we’ve been up to this month.

Exploring Cambridge North with Zara and Charlie

This month, we took part in Cambridge Wide Open Week, giving our new Head of Operations, Zara Davidian, a proper introduction to the Cambridge innovation ecosystem.

From The Glasshouse to St John’s Innovation Centre, Allia, and the Maxwell Centre, the day was packed with insights and useful encounters. It was a reminder of how efficient and energising this ecosystem can be. We wrapped up with an Aperol Spritz at the o2h Group garden party.

Meanwhile Charlie went to visit the new Co-Laboratories space at Niab to meet with Laura Grimwood. Together with Brydell she has created some great space for growing science companies. Clearly the model is working as their current spaces are almost full and they are working to renovate more of it.

Cleantech in Canary Wharf

In Canary Wharf at KPMG’s offices for the Cleantech Venture Day during London Climate Action Week, we saw founders pitch for seed funding in a tough market. What stood out?

• More women at the helm: a welcome shift.

• Second-time founders sharing honest lessons from past ventures.

• Diverse innovation: from algae-based coatings to carbon-capturing cement.

• Duplication dilemmas: could merging similar ventures accelerate progress?

• Energy storage dominated discussions, with AI-driven demand volatility a hot topic.

Ruthless Collaboration in Old Oak (North Acton)

In Old Oak, we met with Tom and Will from Creative Wick and Johnny from The Republic of Park Royal to talk about community ownership and the power of hyperlocal media. The takeaway? There’s no app for placemaking. It takes time, trust, and a willingness to learn from those who’ve done it before. As ever, we’re here for the ruthless collaboration.

Universities & the Industrial Strategy

The Government’s new Industrial Strategy 2025 hit home for us. Universities aren’t just part of the innovation system—they are the system. From spinouts to skills, they’re the connective tissue between discovery and deployment. We’ve seen it firsthand at White City Innovation District with Imperial College London.

As Patrick Vallance put it: not every region contributes equally. Prioritisation isn’t exclusion, it’s strategy.

📖 Read the full strategy

The Funding Gap: Still Real

At the Creating a Superpower Conference, the message was clear: the UK is great at inventing but struggles to scale. Key themes included:

• The need to prioritise high-performing ecosystems like Oxford and Cambridge (“we’d me mad not to” said sir Patrick Vallance)

• A shortage of commercialisation talent and an opportunity to attract it back from the US if we can solve our VISA and taxation issues.

• Lessons from Paris, New York, and Kendall Square on scaling innovation fearlessly were really inspiring: what stood out was “conviction and authenticity”

Cat wrote about it in detail in her post here

Riverside Innovation at ARC West London

We enjoyed a visit to our friends at the ARC West London Refinery—a stunning example of how science, technology, and urban life can coexist beautifully. As Councillor Stephen Cowan reminded us, “we should never underestimate the power of beauty in driving innovation.”

 Looking Ahead: Civic Campus in West London

At the start of the month, we were delighted to announce that Sciopolis has been appointed to lead a feasibility study for a new innovation initiative at Civic Campus in Hammersmith & Fulham, in partnership with Upstream London. Over six intensive weeks, we immersed ourselves in exploring solutions for this emerging place—grounded in local ambition, community insight, and strategic potential. While the findings are currently under discussion and we can’t share details just yet, we thoroughly enjoyed the process and are optimistic about what lies ahead.

🔗 Read more about the project here