‘Wonderful collaborative’ workspace wins top regional award

An innovative workspace with rapid growth under its belt has won a top regional award for supporting the tech sector.

Future Space, located on the Frenchay Campus of UWE Bristol, has won the ‘Supporting the Sector Award’ at the Tech South West Awards held in Exeter.

The event recognised the achievements of the leading lights of the sector under 26 categories ranging from marinetech to aerospace, agritech, fintech, createch and advanced engineering.

The award-winning workspace at Future Space has become a destination for tech entrepreneurs and visionaries seeking an environment conducive to innovation and collaboration.

According to Future Space, its success is not entirely based on providing workspace but curating an ecosystem that intends to foster creativity, ingenuity and collective advancement.

Future Space is based at Frenchay Campus of UWE

Amidst the backdrop of Bristol’s rapidly evolving tech scene, Future Space stood out for judges by offering a comprehensive support system providing rich collaboration opportunities with leading academics and students along with the on-site support from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Launch Space Incubator and the Centre for Print Research.

The award serves as a testament to the workspace’s commitment to nurturing talent and providing the essential tools and networks for growth, judges said.

Testimonials from tech entrepreneurs and industry leaders highlight the “pivotal” role the space has played in their journeys, citing it as a catalyst for their success and expansion.

Tech South West Awards 2023 was held in Exteter

Celestial Labs, Impulsonics, Reach Industries, SAH Diagnostics, Nusku and Silent Sensors are a few of the businesses that have made Future Space their home in recent months, with some moving across the country to locate there.

On the pace with which things move at Future Space, Russell Murchie, founder at Nusku, said: “I left my previous job on Friday, started at Future Space on Monday, and had joined the Launch Space incubator by Tuesday!

“That’s how fast things move here, which is what you need when you’re developing a new product – in our case we’re revolutionising how we heat our homes.

“That was a year ago and since then we’ve accessed free support from the innovation team and their advisory network, worked with interns from UWE Bristol and received technical advice from university staff, as well as launching our pre-seed funding round with interest from investors and angel networks.”

As part of UWE Bristol’s University Enterprise Zone, Future Space has welcomed a host of new innovators and entrepreneurs through its doors this year and is gearing up to expand by 10,000 square feet of lab and workshop space in 2024.

On the recognition at Tech South West Awards, Matt Freeman, Future Space’s new centre director, said: “It’s an honour to have joined Future Space just as the brilliant team here have been recognised for their role in nurturing the tech innovators of tomorrow.

“Future Space has the power to be the innovation centre of choice for all high-tech businesses inspired to work at the cutting-edge of their industry, be it health and life sciences, advanced engineering, digital technology, green tech or beyond.”

Tech South West Awards the achievements of the sector under 26 categories

Also speaking on Future Space’s recent rise, innovation manager Thanh Quan-Nicholls: “We’re delighted to welcome exciting new companies to Future Space and I’m looking forward to helping them grow. Our supportive ecosystem is key to providing the right environment for success.

“We have a wonderful collaborative community which helps to nurture innovation and support our founders who are focussed on creating positive step-change in technology, health care and sustainability challenges.”

All photos: Sandy Park

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