INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT
London’s Knowledge Quarter (KQ) is defined as the area within a 1-mile radius of King’s Cross station (Figure 1). It hosts what is arguably the most dense concentration of scientific and knowledge-based organisations anywhere in the world, creating an ‘incubator for the UK’. In recent years the KQ has seen substantial improvements in the public realm, associated with redevelopment of former railway lands to the north of St Pancras and King’s Cross. On-going developer and investor interest in the area in part reflects its location at the heart of a vibrant global city. However, the KQ is also a magnet for businesses because of its highly-skilled workforce, linked to institutions that undertake world-leading scientific research. The quality of place-making and the burgeoning cultural offer aids recruitment and retention of these staff. Key to the KQ’s success is an integrated transport network, i.e. fast connections to other parts of London, the wider UK, mainland Europe via Eurostar, and the world beyond, through London’s airports. This provides ready access to a huge pool of skilled labour. These factors combine to give the area a competitive advantage over other cities1.
With no signs to demarcate its borders, or identify its buildings as part of the UK’s largest cluster of ‘knowledge houses’, the KQ remains one of the country’s best kept secrets. In order to investigate the area’s strengths in science and innovation, and how they are being harnessed to create skilled jobs across the UK, a group convened by Knowledge Quarter Ltd. – a body linking over 90 knowledge-based organisations in the KQ – conducted a Science and Innovation Audit of the KQ. This took place between November 2017 and June 2018. The Steering Group for the Audit consisted of representatives from: the British Library; Camden Council; City, University of London; Knowledge Quarter London Ltd.; The Royal Veterinary College; and University College London. Its work was assisted by SQW Ltd. and Technopolis Ltd., the latter under contract to BEIS. The Group also received support from an Advisory Group drawn from industry, regional and national government, and other innovative cities and city-regions across the UK – the wider ‘KQ Alliance’.
The Audit chose to focus on five areas of established or nascent expertise in the KQ, namely:
For convenience in the Main Report, the first three of these specialisms are grouped together under a single Life Sciences ‘umbrella’.
The Audit examined three hypotheses:
Each hypothesis was tested by data from structured interviews, questionnaires, workshops and desk-based research, including an analysis of interdisciplinary collaborations across the KQ, and national/international benchmarking studies around each of the five specialisms.
KEY STRENGTHS OF THE KQ
Whilst a handful of venerable institutions in the KQ, such as the British Museum (founded in 1753), The Royal Veterinary College (1791) and University College London (1826), have long histories and deep associations with the area, the wider KQ is far from static. The most visible sign of this is the transformation since 2006 of the area to the north of King’s Cross and St Pancras stations2, mostly through private sector investment within a supportive planning framework. Accompanying this transformation, there has been substantial developer interest and investment in new scientific institutions, notably the £650-million Francis Crick Institute which opened in 2016. Looking ahead, even greater investment is likely. This will include the British Library Extension, due for completion in 2023, and the multi-billion-pound redevelopment of the area around Euston station, associated with the arrival of High-Speed 2 (HS2) in 20263.
Latterly the KQ has been considered as an innovation district4 – an “enclave that merges the innovation and employment potential of research-oriented anchor institutions, high-growth firms, and tech, and creative start-ups in well-designed, amenity-rich residential and commercial environments”5. While it possesses all of these assets and more (including national museums and libraries), the KQ defies easy categorisation; as noted by Sir Richard Lambert in his Foreword to this report, the KQ was not ‘planned’ in the same way as archetypal innovation districts such as 22@ (Barcelona), MIT Kendall Square (Boston) and Kista (Stockholm), but over two centuries has woven itself into the fabric of London’s streets.
Data gathered by the Audit has confirmed that the KQ is internationally leading in each of the five specialisms, as measured longitudinally by data on: the number and value of research grants awarded (publicly-funded research collaborations); number of highly-cited publications; number of patents awarded; number of drug discoveries; and number of start-up companies, including university spin-outs. The KQ’s strengths are concentrated in specialist centres and institutions:
As a result of growth in these specialisms, between 2003 and 2013 some 42,000 new employee jobs in science and technology were created in Camden and Islington, such that by 2015, one-third of the 352,000 employee jobs in Camden fell into this category – the highest concentration of any local authority area in the UK6. These jobs made a substantial contribution to the output (gross value-added, GVA) of the two boroughs, which in 2015 was £43.4 billion. To place this in context, the City of London had a GVA of £46.7 billion in the same year, whilst the cities of Birmingham and Manchester had a combined GVA of £41.8 billion7.
The knowledge ‘spill-over’ effects of the KQ on the wider UK economy (Audit Hypothesis 1) are not captured so readily by available statistics. Nevertheless, evidence obtained from the Audit suggests that these effects are likely to be considerable. This is mainly through the supply of highly-skilled graduates, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers (in total, circa 30,000 per year), many of whom go on to work outside the KQ; but also through the founding of highly innovative businesses, which settle elsewhere in London or other parts of the UK. Two such businesses are described in Box 1 (overleaf).
It is not possible to quantify the long-term impact on the UK economy of start-ups such as these – and there are many more examples that could be quoted. However, data collected during the Audit show that the KQ’s universities have been responsible for spinning-out more than 100 small businesses in recent years. On the basis that many of these firms are already contributing to the creation of skilled jobs and GVA outside of the KQ (thus reinforcing the idea of the KQ as ‘an incubator for the UK’), we can say that Hypothesis 1 is supported by the available data.
Achilles Therapeutics Ltd. (https://achillestx.com/) – a Life Science spin-out from the Francis Crick Institute and UCL Cancer Institute (part of the UCL Hospitals’ Biomedical Research Centre) in 2016, Achilles is developing novel cancer immunotherapies that target truncal (clonal) tumour neo-antigens – unique flags to the immune system that are present on the surface of every cancer cell. It has raised £13.2 million to develop these therapies. Following its move to become part of the emerging cell and gene therapy cluster at Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst in 2017, Achilles now employs 25 staff.
Hazy Ltd. (https://hazy.com/) – a AI spin-out from UCL’s Centre for Computational Statistics and Machine Learning, Hazy has created a secure data sharing system that helps businesses to track and manage who has access to their data. An automated data anonymisation tool being developed by the company will allow privacy to be optimised for each use case. In May 2018, Hazy won the Microsoft Innovate.AI prize (valued at US$1 million), and is backed by Microsoft’s venture fund. The company is headquartered in Shrewsbury, with an office in ‘Tech City’, east London.
GAP ANALYSIS
The KQ’s success has placed multiple pressures on its infrastructure: local housing is in short supply and extraordinarily expensive (in 2016, the median house price in Camden was 19.6 times the median salary of workers in the borough8); commercial property prices have sky-rocketed; and employment sites are under pressure, including from conversion to residential use under Permitted Development Rights. Alongside these ‘space’ issues, the local transport system is congested, leading to disruption and delays at peak times; electricity ‘brownouts’ are becoming more common; and telecommunications networks (legacy broadband fibre and 4G) are overloaded.
The Audit has identified the following ‘gaps’ in the innovation ecosystem in the KQ, all of which are space related:
These gaps were also noted in a London-wide report commissioned by MedCity9. It appears that since that report’s publication in March 2016, progress towards addressing them within the KQ has been slow (but see sections 4 and 5).
The Audit also revealed that open innovation initiatives have yet to make major inroads in businesses in the KQ. This is despite the high density of the KQ and the activities of network brokers. Addressing this is a challenge not only in the KQ, but across the UK – especially in the Life Sciences10. It is early days, but there is evidence of progress in the KQ with, for example, the Alan Turing Institute’s recent (May 2018) announcement that it plans to work with University College Hospital on the application of machine learning algorithms to large data-sets obtained from A&E patients11. In a further example of data sharing, since 2013 clinicians from the UCL Hospitals’ Biomedical Research Centre have been working with other NHS Trusts in London, Oxford and Cambridge to create an inter-institutional ‘safe haven’ for metadata that can then be harnessed for clinical research and population health science12. On this basis, Audit Hypothesis 3 is partially supported by the available data, and further effort is needed to champion open innovation in the KQ.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH
Due to the area’s science strengths, the KQ Steering Group believes that continued growth needs to happen in the KQ, in order for it to happen elsewhere in London and the wider UK. More specifically, the Group has concluded that the potential for growth is greatest in the Life Sciences (Audit themes 1 to 3), paired with exciting new developments in Machine Learning/AI (theme 5). The opportunities fall under two of the Industrial Strategy’s ‘grand challenges’:
There is an exciting opportunity for these two challenge areas to come together in the British Library Extension13, which will comprise 75,000 square-metres of innovation space on a 2.8 acre site between the Library and the Francis Crick Institute. The Extension will house the headquarters of the Alan Turing Institute and provide more space in which to display the Library’s extensive digital collections. It will also offer laboratory space for a cross-section of businesses, large and small, that wish to locate within the heart of the KQ. Farther west along the Euston Road, the HS2/Euston station redevelopment (Phase 1: 2019-3314) has the potential to provide substantial science and/or innovation space, either above15 or alongside the southern terminus of HS2.
Alongside these major construction projects is a new investment by LSHTM in epidemiology and public health (linking with Audit theme 1). TP2, a dry-laboratory facility being built on Tavistock Place, is scheduled for completion in 2020.
In relation to opportunities for growth in AI and the Data Economy, including the development of privacy and ethics surrounding the use of public data, Google is creating a 11-storey, 81,000-square-metre ‘land-scraper’16 adjacent to King’s Cross station. Due to open in 2020, this building and another premises nearby will accommodate up to 7000 staff, providing a new headquarters for Google’s UK operation. The site is close to Google’s existing home at 6 Pancras Square, which also houses DeepMind’s 300 London-based employees and YouTube Space, a hub for creatives. Facebook’s anticipated move to a 65,000-square-metre site to the north of Granary Square, behind King’s Cross station17 raises the exciting prospect of a new AI/Data Economy hub at the heart of the KQ by 2024.
There are also an increasing number of instances in which the KQ’s strength as the home of unique digital collections (theme 4 of the Audit) is being harnessed to benefit the UK economy. The work is at an early stage when compared to Life Sciences, but there are some exciting initiatives in this space. One example is a collaboration between the University of Oxford’s Visual Geometry Group and researchers at the British Library, which aims to apply next-generation computer vision methods and tools to large collections of digital images, including prints, paintings, stamped images, photographs and film18. The objective of this project is to produce methods that can analyse, describe and search image and video content with human-like capabilities; and thereafter to be able to apply these methods to industry and across academic disciplines, with the result that “everything visual should be describable and searchable”19. This offers tremendous potential to create ‘tech’ start-ups – based anywhere in the UK – that make use of open source tools developed by the project.
NETWORKING AND COLLABORATION
Complementing current and proposed growth in the KQ is growth outside the KQ, but linked to the KQ. The largest such development is a nascent innovation district at Stratford in east London, only 7 minutes by high-speed train from St Pancras. This district, lying within and adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park, is to be known as the East Bank20. It will host government agencies including new offices for HMRC and Transport for London, a £13.5-million cyber innovation centre (known as LORCA, the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement) and major cultural organisations (BBC Music, Sadler’s Wells East, V&A East, with a link to the Smithsonian Institution), alongside housing and retail space. Importantly for the KQ, the East Bank development includes a new campus for UCL, complementing its existing site (shared with Loughborough University London) at Here East on the Olympic Park. UCL will join Birkbeck, University of London, another KQ resident, which since 2013 has had a base at University Square Stratford. The first new building on the UCL East Campus will be Marshgate Phase 1, a 33,500-square metre research and teaching facility, due for completion in 2022. Stratford offers an abundance of grow-on space for knowledge-based organisations, at a build cost per square metre that is very low when compared to the KQ. This has led UCL to move elements of civil engineering and architecture – two of its most ‘space-hungry’ schools – to Stratford. The same logic may yet tempt other KQ residents to establish a presence there, whilst retaining their sites in the KQ. To this end, Knowledge Quarter London Ltd. is in regular dialogue with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC, the Mayoral development authority) in order to understand how the KQ and Stratford can develop their respective ‘offers’ in ways that are mutually supportive.
Knowledge Quarter London Ltd. is also engaging with Imperial College at White City in west London21. The new 11.5-acre campus places a strong emphasis on multi-disciplinary research and innovation with application to the Life Sciences. Under construction or recently completed are: a 26,000-square metre Molecular Sciences Research Hub, due to open this year; a 13-storey Biomedical Engineering Research Hub due for completion in June 2019; and i-Hub, a 20,000-square metre Translation and Innovation Hub which opened in 2016. The White City development has the advantage of being close to two research hospitals (Hammersmith Hospital and Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea, respectively), providing the critical ‘ABC’ community (i.e. academics, businesses and clinicians) much beloved of innovation district developers. Like the KQ, White City Campus has a strong community development ethos that includes a commitment to citizen-led innovation22. This may help it form a natural bond with the KQ. That said, whilst the two districts are fewer than 6 miles apart, travelling between them takes 35 minutes by tube – a fact that could yet stifle collaborations (compare with the 7-minute overground journey from St Pancras to Stratford).
Farther afield, but only 20-25 minutes by train from King’s Cross and with growing links to the KQ, is an emerging cluster in gene therapy, stem cell therapy and tissue engineering (linking to Audit themes 2 and 3). This consists of the Cell & Gene Therapy (CGT) Catapult’s £55-million Cell Manufacturing Facility on GSK’s open innovation campus at Stevenage in Hertfordshire, which opened in April 201823; the CGT Catapult’s network of industry partners – several of which are based at the Stevenage BioScience Catalyst (SBC), on the same site; the Advanced Therapies Division of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, which is co-located with the UK Stem Cell Bank at Potters Bar24; and the RVC, which has a campus at Hawkshead Lane, Potters Bar. Whilst this cluster is focused on human medicine, the CGT Catapult’s interests complement those of the RVC, which is developing stem cell therapies for equines and companion animals. Opportunities for collaboration between the Catapult, companies based at SBC, and the RVC are being pursued through joint bids for funding, and will be boosted by the opening of a Veterinary Vaccinology and Cell Therapy Hub on the RVC’s Hawkshead campus in summer 2020 (see reference 1).
At national level, Knowledge Quarter London Ltd. is part of a newly-formed network of nascent innovation districts chaired by the LLDC and including Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Glasgow; whilst at international level it is working with innovative cities and city-regions in Europe, the USA and Asia to share good practice. This includes acting as host for visiting delegations, undertaking ‘ambassadorial’ visits overseas and, prompted by the Audit, contributing to technical debates on the role of urban innovation districts in creating sustainable economic growth (for example, in June 2018 the RVC and UCL gave a presentation on ‘what works in the KQ’ at the University-Industry Innovation Network conference in London). These activities are comparatively low-key at present and could with benefit be expanded as part of efforts to make the KQ ‘brand’ more widely known inside and outside the UK.
The process of carrying out the Audit has undoubtedly strengthened collaboration within the KQ, particularly between the Steering Group members, but also between innovative small firms in the KQ, that hadn’t previously been aware of one another’s existence (some of these firms met for the first time during the thematic workshops). The Audit has also helped to formalise relationships between the KQ and external actors such as the GLA and the LLDC, whilst creating new ‘soft’ connections with MedCity, Tech Nation, HS2 and Imperial White City. At the same time, some hoped-for relationships failed to get off the starting blocks, because no individual champion emerged to engage with the Audit process (this is perhaps inevitable given the large and diverse set of organisations in the KQ). This failure demonstrates that new connections can only be made if all parties are open to the possibility, and serves to highlight the importance of ‘network brokers’ in joining the dots between organisations – a role that in the KQ is undertaken by Knowledge Quarter London Ltd. and a handful of highly motivated consultants. A KQ-wide survey conducted as part of the Audit revealed that these brokers, most of whom have been active only for a short time, are starting to have a genuine catalysing effect on collaborations. Hence, Audit Hypothesis 2 is supported by observations made during the Audit. That said, the Audit found that the scale of brokerage activity is modest, in keeping with the small number of brokers active in the KQ. Brokerage activity will need to be ramped-up considerably (and be complemented by in-work enterprise skills training – see section 7) if we are to fully exploit the KQ’s potential as an ‘incubator for the UK’.
A VISION FOR LONDON’S KNOWLEDGE QUARTER
The KQ Steering Group has drawn up a list of priorities for the short, medium and long term.
In the short term, the Group believes it is important for the KQ’s ‘premium brand’ and profile to be better communicated and promoted worldwide, with attendant benefits for the whole of the UK. The KQ represents a world-class resource for the UK in terms of innovation and research commercialisation, yet it remains largely invisible in wider London and UK narratives. This is to significantly under-play (or even mis-represent) the area’s assets, especially in respect of international investors. The Steering Group is keen to work with BEIS and/or the Department for International Trade in order to correct this anomaly.
Over the medium term, the Group’s vision is to sustain and harness fully the disruptive potential and impact of the KQ’s scientific and knowledge-based assets. This will be evidenced through processes of open innovation, with both economic impacts and wider social benefits, which will improve lives nationally and internationally. Processes of research commercialisation will be central to this, which means that the KQ must continue to be a place where very early-stage businesses can be nurtured (with appropriate finance, physical provision, and supportive networks). The Steering Group recognises that scale-up and growth may need to occur outside the KQ. Its vision is that this process should be actively supported and encouraged by organisations and individuals based in the KQ, thereby delivering direct economic benefits to locations outside of central London.
At the same time, we want those who are resident within the KQ to benefit fully and more equitably from the growth process, insofar as it can be accommodated there. Currently there are substantial local pressures, particularly in relation to housing (availability and cost) and congestion. Many of the jobs generated in the KQ in recent years are ‘low pay’ in character and the risk is one of increasing polarisation in income25. Thus, whilst Camden is ranked eleventh from top in the UK in terms of local authority areas with the highest proportion of wealthy households, levels of deprivation in some parts of the borough (e.g. Somers Town) and in Islington are similar to those in Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets, the local authority districts in the UK with the highest percentage of households living in poverty26.
How might this inequality be addressed? A spatial plan for the KQ’s development, covering the next thirty years (‘KQ 2050’), would help to create a long-term vision for sustainable growth to which all interested parties can subscribe. The purpose of this Plan will be to:
If realised, the plan will provide a long-term framework for development processes within the KQ, and govern its relationship with strategic partners outside the KQ. It will exist within the framework of the London Plan and, whilst it will not have statutory planning status, it will influence the evolution of Local Plans in Camden and Islington.
KEY AMBITIONS AND ACTIONS ARISING FROM THE AUDIT
Creating a spatial plan for the KQ will be the main follow-on activity for the Steering Group’s successor body over the next few years. In support of this high-level commitment, Steering Group members will seek to advance several more immediate projects within the KQ, including:
Resources for these projects will be sought locally and at national level – for example through proposals to UKRI28. Various arms of central government could assist organisations in the KQ to deliver each of the projects listed above, not necessarily by providing funds, but by exercising their convening power. This will enable certain strategic conversations to take place more quickly and/or facilitate conversations that, without government’s intervention, might not take place at all.
CONCLUSIONS
The Audit of the KQ has identified the main strengths and weaknesses of the KQ, tested three hypotheses, mapped the KQ’s principal collaborations and networks, and started the process of creating a long-term spatial plan for the area (‘KQ 2050’). This plan will aim to accelerate the development of the KQ as an ‘incubator for innovation’ that supports the economic prosperity of the wider UK. In addition, seven projects have been identified that will facilitate the plan. Each of these projects has been assigned a lead institution(s) from the KQ.
Importantly, the Audit exercise has demonstrated to Steering Group members that a small, dedicated group of people can achieve a surprising amount in a short space of time, by working in partnership. The key to continued success will be placing ‘KQ 2050’ at the forefront of strategic thinking by national government on science and innovation; and thereafter, mobilising the strength of all stakeholders in the KQ to help deliver this vision.
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Dominic2019-03-08 09:00:372019-03-08 11:32:06Knowledge Quarter Science and Innovation Audit: Summary report