Imperial has joined forces with Blenheim Chalcot, a digital venture builder to launch Scale Space, a new scale up community at White City.

Scale Space is a new 200,000ft² facility that will be home to leading scale ups and innovative businesses across the technology, digital and life-sciences sectors. Scale Space will bring together Blenheim Chalcot’s venture building expertise with Imperial’s thought-leadership to help these companies develop by connecting them with the right people, services, space and resources. The venture has opened its doors to its first business members this week ahead of the building’s formal launch in September.

"It’s wonderful to have our academic community directly engaged in this important ecosystem." Professor Alice Gast President of Imperial College London

Scale Space has been created to help the UK’s scale-up sector overcome growth challenges and secure the right support at the right time to grow effectively. It will help its members overcome challenges and scale for long term success by creating a growth community, connecting businesses together for mutual benefit, knowledge sharing and to help them draw on the specific skills and expertise within Imperial and Blenheim Chalcot.

Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London said: "We see our White City Campus as a place where the best of business comes together with the best research and talent from Imperial College London to help create the enterprises of the future. We're excited about Scale Space and the partnership with Blenheim Chalcot as we know how critical scaling up is to early-stage startups.  It’s wonderful to have our academic community directly engaged in this important ecosystem.” 

Forging important connections

In early 2021 Imperial College Business School will open a 12,000 ft2 purpose-built space dedicated to teaching and research, which will be used by Business School students and academics. The Business School's suite of MBA and Master's degree programmes will have elements taught within two new teaching areas at Scale Space, providing students with the opportunity to experience Imperial's White City Campus and forge connections with the scale up companies based within Scale Space as well as the wider entrepreneurship community of White City. 

Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School said: “Scaling businesses are an important engine for the UK economy and innovation globally – particularly when considering the role technology companies have in helping address key health and sustainability issues. The partnership with Blenheim Chalcot will help enhance our existing research on scale-up companies, particularly tech start-ups, providing us with valuable insights we can apply to our teaching of entrepreneurship and innovation, which form a key part of our MBA and Master’s degrees. 
 
“By having a presence within Scale Space, the Business School will be at the heart of the latest thinking to help businesses scale, providing a unique environment for our students and academics to forge important connections with the other Scale Space members, bringing our world-class research, talent and expertise to these businesses and the wider entrepreneurship ecosystem of White City.” 

Professor Veloso discusses the benefits of Scale Space to Imperial College Business School in this video about the project.

The services offered to companies based in Scale Space include:

• Expert Know-How: helping members speed their development by helping them draw on the knowledge and growth processes followed by other successful scaling businesses as well as research from The ScaleUp Institute and academic thought leadership from Imperial as well as other experts.
• The Growth Network: opportunities to join a network of venture builders, academics, researchers, tech leaders and scale up leaders. Regular Scale Space members get togethers will help to build a collegiate environment of peer-to-peer support.
• Scale-up services: Scale Space will provide its members with access to specialist services and expertise.  These include student placements, specific advice and paid for consultancy from growth specialists ranging from HR to legal, tax and governance, and specific projects delivered for companies by the Imperial College entrepreneurial student network, including MBA students from the Business School  

• Space tailored for growth: companies will be able to curate the space they need to grow, ranging from fully fitted offices to research labs or office suites – and across a range of models from long-term traditional leases to flexible managed services.

Mark Sanders, Executive Chairman, Scale Space said: “We’ve created Scale Space to help technology, life-science and digital businesses, through a combination of practical business building know-how, high-quality academic input and access to research and talent, which I believe makes us very different. Scale Space White City is particularly exciting as we are able to work with Imperial College London, a world leading university, and its Business School. What we’re creating seems very relevant for our times, and nearly 70 percent of Scale Space White City is under offer already.”