Sharing knowledge, contacts and best practice

The Science Park's Special Interest Groups are invitation-only meetings. Starting in March, the aim of the SIGs is to bring together people with similiar roles in order to facilitate the sharing of best practice, experience and contacts, and to promote education and training. Discussions between members of the SIGs outside the formal meetings will be enabled via the Park's new intranet.  We are starting with the SIGs listed below but we are always open to new ideas:

• Human Resources
• Facilities Management
• Transport
• Finance
• Executive Assistants
• Business Development
• IT Management
• Corporate Communications and Marketing

Human Resources

The ability to attract and retain staff at all levels of seniority is critical for  all the companies on the Park. The aim of this SIG is to provide a platform for people performing an HR function to discuss the issues they face, and to share experience, contacts and best practice. The first meeting of this SIG will be held in March. Possible topics for discussion include:

• Recruitment
• Retention
• Training
• Mentoring
• Agile working
• Schools outreach
• CSR
• Apprenticeships
• Health & wellbeing
• Employee benefits
• Employment law
• Language classes
• Housing
• Immigration
• Staff relocation
• IR35

Mental Health & Wellbeing Slides by Adelle Shaw-Flach

Facilities Management

The next meeting of the FM SIG is scheduled for 10 September. The plan is to  review and agree the topics this SIG should cover in the future as well as the frequency and format of the meetings. For anyone unable to attend, the minutes will be circulated after the meeting.

• Business resilience/security
• Waste management
• Health & safety
• Lab equipment - maintenance and sharing
• Energy consumption

Finance

A priority topic for this SIG is access to regional, national and international grants. Knowing what grants are available, how to apply for them, and hearing practical advice and tips from others who have been successful (or otherwise) in securing grant funding will form the basis for the first meeting.

• Best practice
• Purchasing
• Grants

Executive Assistants

Many of the smaller companies on the Park do not employ Executive Assistants whilst others may only have one person performing this important function. We hope this SIG will provide a vaulable platform for  EAs to get to know one another, to exchange views, contacts and methods of working.

• Best practice
• Knowledge sharing

Business Development

This SIG is likely to be the least formal of all the SIGs and may also incorporate an element of marketing and social media.

• Best practice
• Events
• Training

IT Management

A number of IT managers on the Park have requested that we organise this SIG.

Corporate Communications and Marketing

Corporate Communications and Marketing is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications in order to achieve the company’s planned objective(s).

The aim of this SIG is to provide a platform for sharing ideas, contacts and challenges. Each quarter the group will meet to discuss a key topic, deep dive into a current challenge, and make connections. This SIG is exclusively for Communications, Marketing and PR personnel of Cambridge Science Park businesses.

Along with other company departments, the reach of topics are broad. The list below is indicative and items discussed will be driven by the members.

Topics covered

• Strategic Marketing
• Marketing Communications
• External Communications
• Corporate Affairs
• Internal Communications
• Employee Engagement
• Branding
• Product Marketing

• Best practice