The Science Vale UK Partnership

Comprises public and private sector bodies who have agreed to work together to help develop southern Oxfordshire in pursuit of an agreed Vision that: Science Vale UK should be a global hot spot for enterprise and innovation in science, high technology and the application of knowledge.

Objectives

Attract inward investment

so there are more jobs and more customers in Science Vale UK and the local economy is strengthened.

Enable resident businesses to prosper and grow

so that Science Vale UK is synonymous with business success.

Attract more investment into infrastructure

so Science Vale UK is a better place in which to do business and live.

Make Science Vale UK a more successful and attractive place

in which to live and work than would be possible if the partners did not collaborate.

Science Vale UK is the name that the partners have adopted for the southern Oxfordshire area to help describe and promote the area and galvanise collaborative action. The area runs from Wantage/Grove in the west to Culham Science Centre in the east and embraces the two largest employment centres - Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and Milton Park - and the main town of Didcot.

Building on the very significant existing strengths of the area in science, technology and innovation, Science Vale UK has the potential to make an even greater contribution to the South East’s and the United Kingdom’s competitiveness in the face of intensifying international competition.

Economic development is a key objective but, the Partnership recognises the importance of other factors which enhance that development, so the Partnership’s interests extend across a wide range of issues from housing to skills development.

The Science Vale UK Partnership Board has agreed the following four themes for the work of the Partnership:

  • Promoting SVUK
  • Providing appropriate skills
  • Attracting necessary infrastructure and investment
  • Developing SVUK as an attractive and thriving place

… and underlying these themes:

  • Strengthening the SVUK Partnership and improving its effectiveness

All the partners provide funding which enable the Partnership to undertake activities in support of its objectives. The Board is also attended by Oxfordshire Economic Partnership and the Government Office for the South East.