We make collision Irresistible
Founded by Fraser White, Sir Tim Smit, Justin Albert, Kai White and Alex Smit, Innovation Nursery is a members-only space for eccentric ideas: 140 acres of working landscape in Cornwall and an online community where founders, makers, and scientists thinking about how we might live differently meet businesses with the capital and supply chains to make a difference.
Eccentric ideas need company, so we do four things. We scan the horizon for the ideas worth your attention and tell their story. We gather the people those ideas need to collide with, in rooms safe enough to say the strange thing and sharp enough to test it. We hold a membership of brands with the means to change the world alongside the founders and scientists rethinking how we live, and hand them 140 acres of tools to make, build, test and learn. And through INformed we work inside organisations to unearth their own eccentric ideas and make them real.
THE PLACE
The hideaway is 140 acres built for making, reflecting and replenishing. On our campus, we have Kegin, the shared workspace, and the collision café, complete with its own brewery run by Coldframe. Kovva is our convening space built around the experience. It holds up to 700 people, room enough for a whole company to gather and create. Alongside our campus, we have our areas for getting your hands dirty: an experimental kitchen, aeroponics chambers, a material workshop, the largest 3D printing crane in the UK and glasshouses for growing. All powered by our solar field.
THE EXPERIENCE
The day ends when the making does, and the evening is where the conversation and creation occurs. Kris, our Head of Food Innovation, cooks the feast from what the land, the sea and the aeroponics chamber produce. Our brewery producers keep the glasses full. And the table is curated: we seat the grower next to the materials scientist and the CEO next to the maker, because an idea changes shape when the people it needs collide over dinner.
Then back to our accommodation, minutes from the hideaway: a stone barn with a view of the sea in every window, or a timber house in the woods for contemplation and reflection, both yours.
It’s the invitation people rearrange their diaries for.
Areas of focus
Who we're working with
What we're working on
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Coldframe brewery
Our onsite brewery. Barley in coastal fields. Hops growing in our glasshouses. A taproom coming soon to Kegin.
From grain to glass, all on our site. -
Forest City one
A project proposing a new innovative city near Cambridge. They’re driven people asking the right questions.
We sponsored the feasibility report and launch. -
Natural Generation
Natural Generation were the minds behind our solar array which powers the entire site. We have a bespoke design, optimised for our site.
Frequently asked questions
What do you do?
We find eccentric ideas and give them the company they need to grow. Innovation Nursery is a members-only space where founders, makers and scientists rethinking how we live meet the businesses with the capital and supply chains to make those ideas real. We do that in person on our campus and online through our community.
Who do you work with?
Two kinds of people, and the magic happens where they meet. On one side are the brands and innovation teams with the means to change how things are made, grown and built. On the other are the founders, scientists, makers and misfits already working out how. Our members span food, materials and the built environment, and we’re always looking for the next unexpected pairing.
What services do you offer?
Four things. We scan the horizon for ideas worth your attention and tell their story. We run collisions: events that put the right people in a room and give them something real to make. Our membership gives brands ongoing access to our innovators and our campus, with its workshops, labs and growing spaces. And through INformed, we work inside organisations to uncover their own eccentric ideas and bring them to life.
Why Cornwall?
Because good ideas need room to breathe. Being away from the usual meeting rooms changes how people think, and our campus gives them space to build things at full scale. Cornwall also has a long habit of invention, from the engineers who powered its mines to the growers and makers working here today. It’s a fine place to try something new.
How do you support the local area?
We put our time, money and imagination into the place we call home. We sit on the steering group for the St Austell Community Land Trust and match its funding, because good ideas about how we live should start with somewhere to live. We work with local schools, colleges and universities, help organisations find and win grants, and partner closely with not-for-profits doing the hard work on the ground. We buy from local growers, brewers and suppliers wherever we can.
We also bring our habit of thinking sideways to local businesses. One example: waste from the local mining industry, once a problem to be stored, is now being tested as a material for 3D printing.
And we’re proud to back the teams our neighbours cheer for, sponsoring the Cornish Pirates, Truro City FC and our own St Austell Rugby Club.
How can I get involved?
Come to one of our open events and see what a collision feels like. If you’re a brand or innovation team, talk to us about membership. If you’re a founder, scientist or maker with an idea that could change how we live, we’d love to hear about it.
