In May we focused on building 3 things: team, network and pipeline.

On the team front, we’re thrilled to welcome Zara Davidian as our new Operations Manager —a milestone moment for any startup. With years of experience at Imperial, she’s already bringing structure and clarity to the chaos (including how to address the challenge of dealing with mountain of chairs and cables on her first day—thanks, Charlie). She’s hit the ground running, and honestly, we’re not sure how we ever managed without her.

Oh, and if you’re curious about those chairs…Read our recent post on "desolate chairs" here

Building a “network of experts” that innovators can rely on

Long before the first tenant moves into one of our sites, we’re actively building a trusted network of partners across key services: legal, marketing, finance, F&B, lab supplies, and more.

Why? Because innovators should be focused on discovery—not Googling “IP lawyers.”

We’re walking the walk, curating a network of vetted partners so our tenants don’t have to.

This isn’t marketing spiel—it’s a foundational part of our vision. When a tenant chooses a Sciopolis site, the building is only 50% of what they get. The other 50% is a support system designed to accelerate their success. And we’re building that before the walls even go up.

PS: If you would like to become part of our network of experts, have a look at our new brochure here

Immersing ourselves in Cambridge

We’ve been spending more and more time in Cambridge, mapping out the departments, institutions, networks, and equipment that could be game-changing for our future tenants. It’s become a bit of an obsession.

Cambridge is accelerating like never before (if you need datapoints, look no further than the recent Dealroom report), and every trip we make or person we speak to deepens our understanding of the drivers of this momentum.

This month we focused on Cambridge West as we wrote about in this post—where we were warmly welcomed at the Maxwell Centre, got a close-up look at Henry Royce’s impressive facilities, and peeked inside IdeaSpace. A few days later, we also had the privilege of attending the Founders at University of Cambridge “2025 Investment Day”, a showcase of ingenuity and polished pitches that reminded us why this city breeds unicorns.

(#Morechem) labs with windows, please

One of our favourite connections this month happened at London Lab Live, where Charlie chaired a lively panel on lab supply vs demand. A standout moment came from Ella Churchill at MedCity, who summed it up perfectly: “We are witnessing the renaissance of labs as nice places to work.” Turns out, scientists really do love labs with windows.

At the same event, we discovered the #MoreChemLabs campaign by the Royal Society of Chemistry—an initiative that sparked a great conversation with Kate Carlisle, captured in this blog post, on the urgent need for university-adjacent, cost-effective lab space to support spinouts

Last but not least, Charlie travelled to a surprisingly sunny Leeds for UKREiiF, where he never saw the sun, so busy was he talking to various Universities, Local Government and landlords about building future Innovation Hubs, and building them fast.

Feasibility Studies: From Beautiful Building to Innovation Hub?

While we can’t share details just yet, we’re deep into a feasibility study in London, exploring whether a nearly completed development could become a true magnet for creativity, science, and innovation.

The building is truly beautiful—but does it have the right ingredient to attract the right tenants and spark that elusive magic of innovation? That’s what we’re going to find out, working to a tight four-week deadline to deliver a clear verdict.

We genuinely love feasibility studies. Done right, they can accelerate thinking, challenge assumptions and unlock new possibilities for our clients.

Curious about what these studies involve? Take a look at our blog post here.

We hope to be able to talk about this one next month!