Guided by the past, driven by the future, responding to the present

Drawing on 180 years of the RAU’s pioneering history - from its founding as the world’s first agricultural college to its current global collaborations - Graham highlights how the university is responding to modern challenges in land use, climate change, and skills development. In this article, he outlines how the Innovation Village will act as a hub for research, collaboration, and practical solutions, combining the RAU’s specialist expertise with international partnerships to drive economic growth, sustainability, and educational excellence.

A powerful engine of economic growth 

The Government’s newly published Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper describes the higher education sector as: 

“a powerful engine of economic growth and a vital component of the wider skills system……providing national capability through specific research expertise……[that] increases the UK’s international standing through facilitating science diplomacy, international collaboration and teaching the world leaders of tomorrow”.

A history of innovation

Back in 1845, 180 years ago, these concepts were already well understood by the founders of the Royal Agricultural College (RAC), which included celebrated names such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was on these grounds that landowners, politicians, and industry leaders came together to create the first agricultural college in the world - to help address some of the biggest challenges facing society at that time.

That spirit of innovation, enterprise and progressive thinking has remained central to the evolution of the RAC over the last two centuries. Gaining university status in 2013 to become the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), it has continued to build on its specialist strengths while expanding its global reach, delivering degrees and partnerships across China, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

However, it is through the planned development of the RAU’s Cirencester campus to create an Innovation Village, that this is perhaps most clearly encapsulated. With a respectful nod to the foresight of those original RAC shareholders, but with a large dose of transformative ambition for the future, the Innovation Village projects a university that will enhance the UK’s international standing; drive economic growth through applied research and development; and build national capabilities within a priority sector by developing a highly skilled workforce. In essence, it speaks directly to those aspirations for the sector set out by the Government within the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper.

A landscape-led approach to sustainable innovation  

Whilst the ambition of the Innovation Village might reflect some of the same language used by the Government, this is more a happy coincidence than a direct response. In fact, the Innovation Village is a concept that has been co-created over several years - launched as a project in 2022 with an event of over 100 guests from multiple sectors, who were invited to contribute ideas and perspectives to help shape its evolution.

The location - a 29-acre university-owned site, adjacent to the main campus - has been considered for various potential development purposes for decades. The university motto is to care for the land, and this means any decision to develop land is placed under even greater scrutiny. The RAU has a heartfelt belief in its inherent responsibility to demonstrate leadership in how land is used sustainably, and to create a legacy that will influence others to do the same. The time spent engaging with stakeholders from across the spectrum has paid dividends, as the outcome is a set of proposals and designs for the Innovation Village which reflect these responsibilities in abundance. 

The 24,000 sqm multi-use development of laboratories, office space, and event and hospitality facilities will be carbon neutral, rich in nature, and will inspire innovation through its environment. It will demonstrate new innovations in sustainability, energy usage, build quality, materials, and landscaping to be a truly net-zero and exemplary sustainable development, the likes of which do not currently exist anywhere. 

The buildings will achieve the Passivhaus Plus standard, radically reducing energy use while also creating comfortable, healthy environments for occupants. This emphasis on user-facing wellbeing will be enhanced as the scheme will also achieve the WELL Building Standard certification and BREEAM Outstanding accreditation.

A living case study of university values

The influence of this development aims to be wider than the site boundary, as an exemplar project that can improve and expedite the sustainability of other local, national, and international developments by being an agent for wider change. The development will initiate and stimulate scalable application of technologies, materials and services that can have positive cascades across the UK construction sector, and internationally.

Importantly for the RAU, the design and build of the development becomes a living case study with the university’s values deeply embedded, which provides a source of learning and innovation for students and the wider community in the heart of the campus.   

Specialist expertise driving change

Reverting temporarily back to the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, this also speaks rather refreshingly to the value of specialism within the sector, encouraging providers to: 

“consider how they could specialise in areas of strength and collaborate with others for the benefit of students and the economy”.

As a specialist university, the RAU has always centred upon the strength of its specialist disciplines, but also of the essential need to collaborate with like-minded organisations in order to effect change. 

In the current context this has never been more important. There is mounting pressure on land in the UK, due to the multiple and sometimes conflicting demands on it, and this pressure is replicated right across the world. It calls for transformative innovation in land use, which is at the core of what the RAU has always done: academically through teaching and research, and practically through applied practice and partnerships. 

Global partnerships and impact

The Innovation Village allows the RAU to take this to a new level by providing a physical home for multiple agencies from different sectors to work together in ways that can help find solutions to sustainable land use, food production, climate change and the biodiversity crisis. The aim is to accelerate collaborations around new research and the sustainable application of ideas and ultimately deliver meaningful change. 

This is what will drive innovation for prosperity and sustainability, and this is what is at the heart of the Innovation Village.  Whilst the design and build are clearly important aspects, it has never been a ‘bricks and mortar’ project. It is what will be inside – the occupants, the interactions, the ideas – that will provide the life-blood and legacy of this development. 

The RAU is very well positioned to operate as a convenor in this space – a role in which it is familiar. Remaining true to its specialisms throughout the last 180 years, growth has not come through a broadening and dilution of subject areas, but rather through the convening of partnerships and collaborations locally, nationally and internationally, operating in ways that play directly to the RAU’s specialist areas of strength.

An obvious example of this is through the RAU’s impressive portfolio of international partners. Remarkably, by its own abstract measures, the Office for Students does not recognise the RAU as one of the few select providers that qualify for world-leading specialist funding, however, the RAU does have longstanding well-established partnerships across the globe that form a major part of its activities. 

The RAU has co-founded two new overseas universities since 2022 – the International Agricultural University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the University of Al Dhaid in Sharjah, UAE. It has a joint degree programme with Sumy National Agrarian University in Eastern Ukraine, as well as a longstanding range of partnerships in China, including a Joint-Institute with Qingdao Agricultural University. The RAU has been selected to be Co-Chair of the UK-China Joint Institute Alliance in 2026, which comprises all 57 UK-China University Joint Institutes.

Looking ahead

It is hoped that, through the Innovation Village, the RAU’s international partners will play an active part in the ecosystem of organisations that the RAU is helping to convene at their Cirencester campus - alongside SMEs, industry R&D, government agencies, charities, community bodies, colleges, schools, and other UK universities. In doing so, it is estimated that the Innovation Village will generate an additional £50m GVA per year to the local economy in Gloucestershire. 

As a member of GuildHE, the RAU - through the Innovation Village - aims to champion values shared across the membership: the power of specialism, the importance of collaboration, and the contribution our institutions make to the future of society and the planet. The Government might just be listening.

For further details, please contact Graham Pollard, Chief Operating Officer, [email protected]