NETPark was opened in 2004 by the local Member of Parliament for Sedgefield and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair.

The NETPark site, the former Winterton Hospital, was transferred from the National Health Service to Durham County Council in 2000, and the NETPark project was officially launched in May 2001 as a development by Durham County Council and Sedgefield Borough Council in partnership with Durham University, the National Health Service and the One NorthEast regional development agency.

[18][19] This was followed a month later by the announcement that the Satellite Applications Catapult would be opening a Space Enterprise Lab at the park.

[14][20] Prince Charles (now King Charles) visited NETPark in April 2022, receiving a guided tour of the Kromek plant and unveiling a plaque to officially commission their 154-furnace Brinkman Cadmium Zinc Telluride Growth Facility.

[21] In 2023, the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult established its north-east centre at NETPark,[22] and work commenced on a £63 million expansion.