MK:U Start up to Scale up programme Case Study

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his project will provide an Innovation Hub in Milton Keynes, known as the Smart City Living Lab. The hub will provide education and support to scale start-up businesses, with a specialist focus in smart city technologies via the MK:U Start Up to Scale Up Programme.

The project will provide technical equipment to fit out an Innovation Hub and Living Lab, consisting of a business incubator and maker space to be accessed by start-up businesses and SMEs through an education programme to support scale-up.

The hub will focus on smart city technologies including robotics, virtual reality, digital twinning, sensor technology, intelligent infrastructure, autonomous vehicles; drones; advanced communications. It will build on Milton Keynes’ reputation as a Smart City to leverage existing infrastructure, especially the MK:5G project. The hub will offer an education programme, providing:

• advice to businesses on testing and scaling their idea
• an urban laboratory where new products, software and ideas can be deployed
• connections with start-up businesses with industry, investors and academia. 

Funding Stream: Getting Building Fund (GBF)
GBF Awarded: £2.435M
Total Project Cost: £4.935M
Project Status: Due to complete August 2022
Projected Outputs: 290 businesses supported, 100sqm new R&D floorspace, 764sqm of new/improved learning floorspace, 500 learners supported, 5 new jobs.
Website: www.cranfield.ac.uk/mku

April 2022

The full allocation of £2.7m of GBF grants has been approved, supporting more than 150 businesses across the region. Case studies for two of the projects funded by the scheme can be found here: