Pioneering Bristol firms Ziylo and NuNano have become the first tenants to take up residence at the city’s newly launched Unit DX scientific innovation centre.
The companies were both founded at the University of Bristol and members of SETsquared Bristol – the world-class incubator based at nearby Engine Shed. 
Their arrival at Unit DX came in the same week that the university has signed a partnership agreement with the centre to support its graduates in the commercialisation of research.
The partnership will accelerate Bristol’s emerging scientific ecosystem by supporting university researchers in their efforts to convert elements of its world-class research into new scientific jobs for the city and its graduates.
Unit DX has been opened in a redeveloped industrial unit in St Philips, which had sat empty for almost three years. Two thirds of the building is devoted to high-spec lab space and facilities with the rest used for offices, meetings and events.
The area around Unit DX will become a centre for research and development capable of attracting highly skilled jobs to the area with the University of Bristol’s Temple Quarter Campus and the Engine Shed 2 due to come on stream within the next few years.
Chemistry start-up Ziylo has moved its team of 10 into the building from its previous base at the University of Bristol. The new base will allow it to accelerate its development of potentially life-changing sugar monitoring technology, and provide space for its recently expanded team of chemists.
Ziylo senior scientist Johnathan Matlock said: “Ziylo is, first and foremost, a synthetic chemistry company and therefore needs high-specification lab space, equipped with fume hoods to successfully achieve our long-term objectives.
“Therefore, the infrastructure and facilities in place at Unit DX have provided a blank canvas and have really allowed Ziylo to tailor the laboratory space to our requirements.
“In short, establishing Ziylo’s long term future as an SME is only possible thanks to the lab space solution provided by Unit DX.”
NuNano, which is relocating from the Engine Shed, specialises in the design and manufacture of probes for atomic force microscopy and other cantilever-based sensor devices. It was founded with the vision of developing new manufacturing methods for devices used for the nanoscale characterisation of materials.
NuNano co-founder and managing director James Vicary said: “I was excited to hear of the development of the scientific facilities at Unit DX and am delighted to be able to move our offices into the building as we continue to grow our business. The space will allow us to continue our close ties with the University of Bristol and SETsquared.”
SETsquared Bristol entrepreneur-in-residence Rick Chapman, who is and now non-exec chairman of NuNano, has been helping the company develop its strategy since its initial induction to SETsquared.
He said: “I have been highly impressed with NuNano’s approach since their first business review panel. It is fantastic to see them growing and graduating from SETsquared.”
SETsquared Bristol centre director Monika Radclyffe added: “It is fantastic to see our businesses growing out of SETsquared Bristol and taking up dedicated lab space within Unit DX.
“Partnership between both organisations works really well, we provide business support, even remotely, and Unit DX provides flexible lab space which previously couldn’t be accessed privately in the city.”
In addition to providing Class 2 laboratory space and office facilities, Unit DX will offer incubation programmes for academics under the partnership with the university as well as established start-ups, which will focus on the challenges specific to scientific companies.
University of Bristol Pro Vice-chancellor for Research and Enterprise Nishan Canagarajah said: “I have been working closely with the Unit DX team since the inception of the project in 2015 and I am very pleased to see it already bringing benefits to companies founded at the university, and to the wider scientific community.
“The building is an excellent asset for the city and we are proud to be able to support it and the enterprises that stem from it.”
