WestTech London welcomes Base One
WestTech newest innovation hub, 1 Portal Way has a new name: Base One.
The new identity was formally unveiled at Base One’s official launch, bringing together leaders from Imperial College London and Ealing Council, industry partners, and the wider innovation community. Imperial President Hugh Brady and Ealing Council Leader Peter Mason joined the event as the WestTech London ecosystem celebrated the next chapter for this landmark destination in the heart of the Old Oak Innovation Cluster.
Delivered by Sciopolis in partnership with Imperial College London, Base One in North Acton offers 24 specialist labs and flexible workspace for the innovators delivering the next generation of science and technology businesses.
Sifted’s Oshin Narang joined the launch to chair a discussion between deep tech founders and experts including Imperial’s Amanda Wolthuizen and Graham Hewson MBA, who highlighted a critical challenge facing the UK’s innovation economy: ensuring deep tech companies have the infrastructure they need to stay, grow and scale in the UK. Through WestTech London and Imperial’s Innovation Spaces, businesses now have access to the specialist facilities and support needed to turn breakthrough research into commercial success and global impact.
Base One is set to play a defining role in WestTech London’s vision of creating a physical bridge from research to scale, helping companies progress from lab-based R&D to pilot, demonstration and commercial-scale production. Current occupiers including Nanomox, Ki 13 (formerly Ki Hydrogen) and P.Happi® are already demonstrating the value of this scaling journey.
Together with Imperial’s advanced manufacturing facility Grapht Works, Old Oak Innovation Cluster is developing a unique proposition for scaling deep tech companies. These two complementary facilities enable science and technology ventures to move seamlessly from the lab bench to early-stage manufacturing and beyond – supported by WestTech London’s strong connections to leading innovation clusters across Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Birmingham and beyond.
Hugh Brady, President of Imperial College London
“The science is often the starting point. The bigger challenge is creating the conditions that allow great science and technology to become successful, scalable businesses. Whether it is attracting investment, finding the right talent or creating the connections to enable pioneering businesses to scale, these are the issues that are occupying our ambitious founders.
That is why Base One matters.
Located at the heart of WestTech London, Base One is a new innovation space, delivered in partnership between Imperial College London and Sciopolis. Base One has been designed to create a community around scaling companies – connecting founders with researchers, investors and industry to create opportunities for people working at the intersection of disciplines to learn from one another and collaborate.
The doors of Base One are now open and I look forward to seeing the ideas, collaborations and companies that emerge from this new community.”
Amanda Wolthuizen, Vice-President (Strategic Engagement and Communications) and Chief of Staff to the President
“Startups aren’t choosing spaces anymore. They’re choosing communities.
The reality of building a science or technology company is rarely linear. We know that as deep tech companies grow, their needs change. Whether that is access to investment and talent, research facilities and equipment, or connections to industry, partners and collaborators. Most of all they need people around them who understand the journey.
That is the ambition of WestTech London, anchored by Imperial College London; a connected community that can support companies as they move from early promise to sustained growth, and leverage the distinct strengths of West London and the wider UK innovation ecosystem.
As we celebrate the opening of Base One – a new location for scaling deep tech ventures – we also embed another facility in our entrepreneurial ecosystem that is helping us to unlock opportunities for growth in London and across the UK.”
