Facilities for entrepreneurs, researchers and and commercial companies
A place where entrepreneurs, health innovators, researchers and start-ups thrive
Is your business looking to gain access to the unique benefits of Europe’s leading biomedical science hub?
The Campus is a unique cluster of health, commercial life science and academic organisations, which provides a wealth of people, resources and infrastructure.
From translational research through to widescale delivery within the NHS, the Campus has lots to offer organisations and start-ups who want to drive forward health and life science innovation.
There are different ways you might require support from the Campus. These include:
- Physical shared laboratory or office space with other organisations on Campus
- Access to facilities on Campus, including services that can support your research, as well as specialist equipment
- Access to Campus networks, mentoring and funding opportunities
- Building relationships with NHS partners, contact with relevant teams to support data needs and access to patient cohorts and samples
For investors
If you are you an investor who wants to engage more with innovation and start-ups on the Campus, there are various opportunities for you to engage with start-ups both on the Campus and more widely within the Cambridge ecosystem. Cambridge University Health Partners has a team dedicated to supporting investors, please get in touch for more information.
Take me there
Finding a space on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus
We have a range of opportunities for researchers and businesses to locate here which offer so much more than physical space, without the need to be affiliated with an existing Campus organisation.
For early-stage start-ups
There is the state-of-the-art incubator space (wet and dry labs) in the Frame Shift Bio-Incubator at Milner Therapeutics Institute. Frame Shift provides a unique environment for companies to work side-by-side with startups, pharma and academic scientists in an ecosystem physically and culturally designed to spark collaboration and entrepreneurship. Frame Shift has a particular focus on R&D intensive companies working in areas related to the Institute’s expertise (e.g. functional genomics, early target discovery and therapeutics).
Cambridge Enterprise – which supports researchers and innovators – has one of their three ideaSpace locations on Campus. ideaSpace South offers office space for start-ups in a friendly and welcoming environment within the Campus right opposite Addenbrooke’s Hospital, with focus on community and providing a supportive space where you can work alongside other founders and grow your venture.
For commercial lab space
The Campus has new commercial lab space being made available on the Campus as part of the development of Discovery Drive. New space will be available from Summer 2026.
The team at One Nucleus can provide great advice on available lab space in the Cambridge region, as well as, the wider UK.
Research facilities on the Campus
Clinical Trials
There are various clinical trial facilities on Campus, many of which are open to collaborations with commercial partners. NIHRs Cambridge Clinical Research Centre (CCRC) provides state-of-the-art facilities to support world-class clinical research across multiple therapeutic areas and patient types, translating cutting edge science into the medicines and treatments of the future. Further information on the CCRC and other essential infrastructure to support translational research can be found here.
BioSamples and BioData
The Campus has a number of Biobanks, from which existing samples and prospective collections are available to researchers working on ethically-approved and relevant studies. These include:
- NIHR BioResource wide range of samples from volunteers, both healthy and with common and rare diseases
Recommended biodata resources for researchers include:
- NIHR BioResource (National – Genetic Data)
- EMBL-EBI – (European – Wellcome Genome Campus)
Equipment and services
State of the art specialist equipment is also available from various organisations on Campus which can help advance the science of your start-up and speed up experiments. Cambridge University staff and researchers can access equipment via the Equipment Sharing Database, and those external to the University can use the National Equipment Portal. As the Campus grows, there are more opportunities to access equipment, so please do get in touch.
Access to networks, funding and mentoring
With a range of shared spaces and cafes across the Campus, there are lots of opportunities for networking. Many of these are accessible for visitors and local residents; they are great places to come and meet with others.
CBC runs events throughout the year which enable start-ups to engage with some of our community of 22,000 employees based on the Campus. For example, CBC host monthly innovation breakfast sessions bringing expert speakers from across Campus and beyond. The team also supports those who need support or funding advice on their innovation journey. Find out more about these events and others happening across the Campus on our What’s on page.
AstraZeneca offers mentoring opportunities for like-minded science-led organisations, which provides access to AstraZeneca leaders and scientists. This programme has been hugely beneficial for the life-sciences start-ups who have successfully applied.
NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre actively supports collaboration with SMEs to bring ground-breaking research to life and support medical innovation.
Building relationships with the NHS
The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is home to three NHS organisations:
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH)
- Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RPH)
These Trusts are all committed to high quality and safe patient care, as well as, seeking to advance patient care through world-leading innovative solutions.
Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP) encourages and supports the growth of innovation within all three Trusts, with a focus on Landing Zones in which there will be dedicated staff to work with innovators and make it easier for technology to get adopted. CPFT is part of the national InSites programme which brings a wider forum for innovation ideas and support that can benefit all the local NHS organisations, patients as well as innovators.
For NHS adoption of more mature innovations, Health Innovation East, the innovation arm of the NHS in the East of England, offers advice on how to support and embed more mature innovations. The team offers advice to innovators and can help sign-post to relevant support within the NHS.