Next wave of innovation: AstraZeneca £1bn R&D centre 

AstraZeneca has unveiled The Discovery Centre (DISC) in Cambridge, UK – a research and development (R&D) facility designed to the world’s highest environmental standards and accommodating over 2,200 research scientists. 

The new £1 billion facility will include advanced robotics, high-throughput screening and AI-driven technology. It will support AstraZeneca’s focus on specialised and precision medicines and foster the discovery and development of next generation therapeutics, including nucleotide-based, gene-editing and cell therapies. 

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca, said: “Our ambition today is to not only unveil a building, but to also drive the next wave of scientific innovation. Our new Discovery Centre in Cambridge raises the bar for sustainable R&D and global collaboration across our industry. It will allow us to break new boundaries in the understanding of disease biology, bring life-changing medicines to patients and power the next stage of our company’s growth.” 

The DISC will add to AstraZeneca’s R&D presence in more than 40 countries across the globe, including its other strategic research centres in Sweden and the US, and development facilities in China and Japan. 

Located within the Cambridge Biomedical Campus1, the physical proximity of the building’s 19,000m2 laboratories to hospitals, the University of Cambridge, other research institutions and a number of biotech companies will promote a culture of open partnership and innovation in its inviting open spaces. The company has over 200 active collaborations in the region and more than 2,000 around the world across academia, biotech and industry.

References

  1. Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Online: https://cambridge-biomedical.com/. [Last accessed: 19 November 2021] 

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