TusPark are the largest owner and operator of science parks around the world. In 2018, with the support of Invest Newcastle and in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs they opened their first UK office in Newcastle. Their core purpose is to support early and scale-up stage companies considering international expansion into the Chinese market.
We sat down with Colin Tan, TusPark Holdings UK Director of Operations for Newcastle, to find out about the company’s city centre incubator and what it offers to companies in the region looking to expand into the Chinese market.
What makes your office space in TusPark Newcastle unique?
Tenants of TusPark Newcastle become part of a national and global network of business support. TusPark has over 300 innovation spaces, with locations in every major city in China and other countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and of course now the UK. This makes international expansion really easy.
We co-run TusPark Newcastle with Barclays Eagle Lab, which has 25 offices across the UK, which our tenants are able to use free of charge, and receive local support in those cities, from the local Eagle Lab team.
Another unique thing that we have is an IoT lab equipped with electronics and makerspace equipment for hardware and engineering prototyping if your company is innovating within that space.
What type of space do you have available and what companies currently occupy the building?
We have co-working and flexible work spaces, as well as larger floors within the building. The building has a dedicated fibre optic cable giving us high speed internet and making us one of the most connected office spaces in Newcastle. Another plus is our location: we are only 2 minutes’ walk from Newcastle train station.
Our members range from tech product companies, consultancies, and agencies. We are quite universal as we believe that entrepreneurship comes from all sectors. However, we find that tenants who are ambitious and tech-focused are a good fit for us.
What support do you offer companies who choose TusPark Newcastle as their location?
We can help businesses to access the China/South Asian market, we help with registering new companies in in China, accesses to seed grants signposting and free one-to-one consultations to support them with expansion plans.
We can advise on networking opportunities, provide investor introductions, and free translations of brochures and other literature.
In recent years we have supported life science companies including Jiahua – a leading independent Chinese Specialty Chemicals manufacturing group, and Nanovery – a biotech specialising in nanorobotic technology, who both now have a base in Newcastle’s life science and innovation hub The Biosphere on Newcastle Helix.
Many companies can find the idea of entering the Chinese market very daunting; therefore our aim is to make it as easy and as smooth of a process as possible.
Can you let us know about any success stories from businesses who TusPark Newcastle have worked with?
Beluga Seatech — an offshore tech company from our recent CleanTech accelerator and member of TusPark Newcastle, has recently closed a contract of £1million USD for offshore inspections. Another great story comes from RAK Wireless – who are a new member of TusPark Newcastle. They are a Chinese company working in the hardware sector, who have recently partnered with a company from Silicon Valley and now call the North East home.
What are TusPark’s ambitions for investing in Newcastle businesses?
There is an incredible number of talented companies and people across a range of sectors in the North East. We see the region and city as an innovation hub with particular strengths in digital, life sciences and clean energy sectors.
The thriving business community in Newcastle can only become stronger through continued investment and support from companies like TusPark to help local organisations to expand and grow on an international scale.
For further information visit Tus Park Newcastle
