Business Profile: Science Park Chief Executive David Rowe
Boosting enterprise is often prescribed as the magic cure to pull the region well and truly out of recession, a turn of phrase that is just as likely to be heard in the coffee houses that adorn Colmore Row as it in the offices of the city council and Advantage West Midlands.
It may be empty rhetoric from some, but when the chief executive of one of the UK’s most progressive science parks singles it out for special attention it is probably time to start listening.
David Rowe is no stranger to the world of enterprise after transforming a piece of waste land in Warwick into a supportive environment for more than 150 high-tech companies, generating in excess of £100 million for the West Midlands economy.
“All I had back in 1982 was an idea, some decent plans, a part-time PA and some open land,” he said.
To make matters worse there was some rather fierce bramble bushes that needed to be taken care of.
“Getting to where we are now was a million miles away. But I’m an ideas man and I like to make things happen.”
And happen they have. At the last count, the University of Warwick Science Park was the biggest in the West Midlands and seen by many domestic and international institutions as a role model for excellence.
The 20 acres of original land has been turned into 40 acres, three satellite centres have been established in Binley, Warwick and Shirley and a raft of services introduced that make it much more than just a base for its companies. It is also home to more than 2,000 jobs.
“From the outset we have tried to do things differently,” explained Mr Rowe, who has just been appointed new chair of Advantage West Midlands’ Enterprise Board.
“Straight away we teamed up with Barclays to help secure a £1.25 million investment for the development of the first phase and this was quickly followed by a second cash injection to extend the original facility.
“This was not a loan from the bank, it was an investment. We were fortunate that Anthony Rudge, the then Birmingham regional director, was firmly committed to developing high-tech businesses locally and, like Coventry City Council, quickly bought into what we were looking to do.”
Mr Rowe, who cites slim-line electronic calculator inventor Clive Sinclair as one of his main business inspirations, is adamant that the Science Park is more than just bricks and mortar.
He quickly points to research carried out in the last six years indicating that between 50 and 70 per cent of the fastest growing companies in Coventry and Warwickshire have been based at the University of Warwick Science Park.
“We’ve tried hard to develop systems and services that help young businesses secure funding, find investment, develop markets, source graduate placements and access one-to-one mentoring.”
The 56 year-old admits he knows all about the pressures that come with being an entrepreneur, comparing the creation of the science park as being similar to the ‘early throes’ of a start-up.
“I was running around trying to do everything and had hundreds of ideas causing chaos with my planning. Just like any new company I was also in a position where I needed to find finance to turn the vision into reality – a hurdle many people don’t overcome.”
Any suggestions that Mr Rowe’s career had been shaped by an enterprising childhood are met with a shake of the head.
His father was an experienced RAF navigator and the only example of entrepreneurship in the family tree was an ancestor who held and exploited a patent for tile drains well over a century ago.
Enterprise was apparently never on the agenda in his hometown of Exeter, although he reluctantly admits to being a founder member of a local electronics club – a decision that quickly turned into an electronics engineering degree at Bangor University.
