Imperial Incubator, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Arc West London announce partnerships to help scientists scale innovative solutions

Imperial Incubator and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have announced a new partnership with ARC West London, designed to support innovators across AI, life sciences, robotics and digital industries to scale, further bolstering the thriving West London life sciences ecosystem.

Imperial has joined forces with ARC West London to launch ‘Leap: Powered by Imperial Incubator’ a new a coworking incubator lab. The co-working space will provide single lab benches so that scientists with early-stage concepts can access cutting-edge facilities, shared equipment, support, and scaleup programmes to help them refine their ideas surrounded by a collaborative and curated ecosystem at ARC’s West London campus.

ARC’s partnership with Paddington Life Sciences, a life sciences cluster led by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, will support and develop the local health ecosystem, focusing on the Charing Cross Hospital, and wider West London region. The partnership will also help facilitate and navigate connections between companies at ARC West London and teams within the NHS to advance collaboration and innovation.

The announcements were made at the official opening of ARC West London’s 150,000sq. ft lab and tech space development, Refinery in Hammersmith. The ground floor of which will be home to Leap: Powered by Imperial Incubator and to ARC’s established accelerator ‘Motherlabs’. Motherlabs was London’s first accelerator space, run solely by a commercial organisation and provides flexible, inclusive grow on space to allow companies to scale in one location.

Together, Leap: Powered by Imperial Incubator and Motherlabs at ARC West London will provide the space and support for scientists and innovators to turn early-stage ideas into commercialised products by scaling under one roof.

Graham Hewson, Head of Incubation and Prototyping Spaces at Imperial, commented: 

This new incubator space will continue our work to connect world-leading research with the next generation of startups, supporting breakthrough innovations in deep tech and life sciences as part of the WestTech Corridor. By collaborating with ARC, we’re reinforcing West London’s status as a premier destination for scientific discovery and commercialisation.

Dr Suki Balendra, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Paddington Life Sciences Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said:

Collaboration is key to accelerating health innovation, and this partnership will be instrumental in bridging the gap between pioneering research and real-world healthcare impact. By connecting startups and scientists with NHS expertise, we can fast-track the development of breakthrough technologies, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen the life sciences ecosystem in West London.

Jim Stretton, Managing Director of ARC, added:

By combining Imperial’s world-class research, our expertise in creating dynamic innovation campuses and our partnership with the NHS, we’re building a unique ecosystem where life science and health startups can thrive. This collaboration will accelerate the journey from discovery to real-world impact, strengthening West London as a global location for science, technology, and healthcare innovation.

Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, said: 

These new partnerships at the heart of the new Fulham Riverside Life Sciences Precinct mark another major milestone in establishing our corner of West London as a global leader in science and technology. By fostering collaboration between world-class research institutions, innovative companies, and the NHS, we are not only driving economic growth but also shaping the future of healthcare and deep tech in line with our Upstream London industrial strategy. This is an exciting step forward for Hammersmith & Fulham and the wider UK innovation landscape.

ARC West London is already home to leading science organisations including: Kesmalea, Sania Therapeutics and Epsiolgen and only a short distance from Imperial College and Charing Cross Hospital. The campus is part of Imperial’s WestTech Corridor – a high potential hub of innovation with over 1000 deep tech businesses, creating jobs, attracting investment and cementing the UK as a leader in science and technology.

These landmark collaborations strengthen ARC’s growing presence in West London, where it’s building a dynamic campus ecosystem that connects world-class research, high-growth companies, and capital. Together, Imperial Incubator, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and ARC are reinforcing WestTech Corridor’s role as a global hub for deep tech and life sciences innovation.