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Welcome to this week’s edition of the Kent Business Newsletter.

We lead with Discovery Park’s plans for 2026, as its CEO sets out how life sciences innovation, funding wins and community engagement are shaping one of Kent’s most important science hubs. You’ll also read about Channel Fire joining the Alpine Group, a move that strengthens specialist fire protection capability in high-risk environments.

There’s a closer look at why the £2 billion Patent Box tax relief is failing SMEs, with growing pressure to simplify rules that currently favour large corporates. We cover Calldene’s latest logistics investment, boosting delivery capacity across Southern England, and finish with a timely warning for hauliers as confusion around ICS2 enforcement creates real compliance risks for UK operators.

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Discovery Park’s CEO, Mayer Schreiber, reflects on a strong end to 2025 and outlines ambitious plans for 2026, highlighting the park’s growing role as a hub for life sciences innovation, collaboration, and community engagement.

Key achievements include major Innovate UK-funded research projects secured by tenants Particology and Asymchem, alongside Levicept winning ‘Clinical Advance of the Year’ at the Scrip Awards for breakthrough osteoarthritis research. Beyond scientific progress, Discovery Park also strengthened local connections through its winter market, attracting over 300 visitors and 90 stallholders.

Looking ahead, Discovery Park will host its third Joint Innovation Showcase on 5 March in partnership with the University of Kent, bringing together academics, industry, and funders to accelerate the journey from research to commercial application. The park will also launch the fifth cohort of its Discovery Spark programme, supporting early-stage life science businesses with commercialisation and funding skills. Together, these initiatives reinforce Discovery Park’s mission to turn cutting-edge research into real-world impact.

➡️ Read Mayer Schreiber’s article in full here.

Alpine Group has brought Channel Fire into the business to strengthen its work in high-risk and technically demanding environments. Channel Fire, founded in 2015, is known for bespoke fire protection design, installation and maintenance when standard systems fall short. Its engineering team and long-standing client relationships made it a clear fit.

Alpine says the move supports its plan to grow its Special Risk capability for customers in regulated and mission-critical settings. Channel Fire’s directors say the partnership lets them keep their service approach while gaining the scale of a larger group. Customers will see no change to their current team or support.

➡️ See why this deal matters for the most complex fire protection projects.

A £2 billion tax break designed to reward UK innovation is coming under fire for shutting out the very SMEs it was meant to support. Patent Box lets you pay a 10 percent corporation tax rate on profits from patented products, yet the 2016 rule changes made the scheme far harder to claim. The nexus fraction, a formula few smaller firms can navigate, is the main barrier. Azets says most SMEs now skip the relief because the compliance work outweighs the benefit. Large companies took 95 percent of last year’s claims, with more than half going to just ten firms. Calls for simpler rules are growing.

➡️ See what the proposed reset could mean for your next product launch.

Calldene Structural Timber Solutions has stepped up its operations in Kent with a new 18-tonne truss delivery truck. The vehicle lets the team flip trusses in transit, raising the maximum deliverable height from 4.0m to 4.7m. It also expands what Calldene can move in one run, from standard trusses to Posi-Joists and panels.

Leaders say the investment gives them more control, faster response times, and better reliability as demand grows across Southern England. The truck will serve customers from the Dover Trussed Roof Company site and the Lancing operation, backed by third-party partners for just-in-time drops.

➡️ See how this upgrade could change what reaches your site next.

EU states are taking mixed approaches to ICS2 enforcement, and Zelir Logistics says the uncertainty is pushing some UK carriers into accidental non-compliance. ICS2 became mandatory on 1 January 2026, yet many transporters still lack the required Entry Summary Declarations because they are not being stopped at borders. Zelir reports that some carriers are unsure of the rules and others have never heard of the system. With ELO still coming for Smart Border movements and only a 60 percent compliance rate so far, Zelir warns that ignoring ICS2 will create bigger problems later. The firm urges transporters to build it into their routines now.

➡️ Want to see how ICS2 enforcement could shift without warning?

This week Paul Andrew’s guest was Matt Sims of Ever So Lean, and author of Building the Bridge to Inspirational Leadership and The Emergence of an Unexpected Leader, and host of the multi-award-nominated Ever-So-Lean Podcast.

Ever-So-Lean began in December 2022, not as a training provider or as a consultancy, but as a podcast. Matt created it to share real, unfiltered conversations about leadership and continuous improvement, stripping away the jargon and the complexity, and putting people back at the centre of Lean Thinking.

To listen to this week’s show in full visit Kent Business Radio

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