Harwell Science and Innovation Campus
Harwell Science and Innovation Campus is a 700-acre science and technology park in Oxfordshire, England, just outside Didcot. More than 6,000 people work there across around 240 organisations, covering spaces such as Space, Clean Energy, Life Sciences and Quantum Computing.
The site began as the main research base of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, but as nuclear facilities were decommissioned it shifted to a science and business campus. It is owned by UKAEA, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Public Health England, and managed by a joint venture.
Harwell hosts major organisations and projects, including the National Quantum Computing Centre and the European Space Agency’s UK base ECSAT. Over 100 space organisations are based on site, such as RAL Space, the UK Space Agency, Satellite Applications Catapult, Thales Alenia Space, Astroscale and ClearSpace Today.
Notable historical achievements include the world’s first transistorised computer, CADET, in 1953, and the world’s first experimental fast reactor, ZEPHYR, in 1954. The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and the Diamond synchrotron later formed part of the campus, which also hosts the ISIS neutron source. In 2013 ESA moved in as the first ESA base in the UK, and the Roy Gibson Building opened in 2015 for ESA’s activities.
As parts of the site are decommissioned, areas are delicensed and the fenced area shrinks, with a plan to complete decommissioning by 2025. The campus also provides on-site amenities such as a bank, post office, hairdresser, sports facilities and a bus station to support researchers and businesses.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:34 (CET).