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| Author David Stowell Source Wikimedia Commons Licence CC BY-SA 2.0 |
I attended and reported on the launch of the University of Huddersfield's 3M Buckley Innovation Centre just over 9 years ago and mentioned the centre again when it was listed in Nesta's Business Incubators and Accelerators Directory and hosted Rise and Design in Huddersfield in 2017. Because of covid, it has postponed its regular events although it continued to communicate with its contacts through its monthly newsletter.
The centre has been in the news recently for two reasons. First, it has today published in conjunction with the University of Huddersfield, Kirklees Council and the Huddersfield Examiner a list of the top 100 companies in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees. Secondly, Tracy Brabin, the recently elected Mayor of West Yorkshire visited the centre to discuss ways of promoting innovation in the borough.
Kirklees covers a large area stretching from the Leeds suburbs to the Pennines. It combines the former mill towns of Batley, Dewsbury and Huddersfield with rural communities such as the Holme Valley, Meltham and Denby Dale. Its population is estimated to be just under 440.000. For many years those communities were dependent on mining and manufacturing. Those industries have largely disappeared and been replaced by the diverse range appearing in the list of the top 100 companies.
The 3M Bucjkey Innovation Centre offers design, prototyping, verification and inspection services. It also lets out space to tenants which includes a firm of patent attorneys as well as meeting and other facilities to its members.
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