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Boost for Liverpool City
Region science and industry
LIVERPOOL City Region has successfully
bid to be in the next wave of Science and Innovation Audits aimed at boosting
economic growth in the knowledge sector.
The Government's announcement is a shot in the arm for the sector, which
includes the Knowledge Quarter and Paddington Village in Liverpool and one of
the UK's leading science and innovation campuses at Sci Tech Daresbury.
Liverpool City Council will be working with project delivery partners at the
Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the University of
Liverpool and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) at Daresbury
to exploit synergies and identify collaborations, investments and interventions
to strengthen and attract businesses. Liverpool JMU will also be involved.
The comprehensive mapping exercise will be focused on making the most of 3
"smart specialisation" areas of expertise which have the potential to create
hi-tech jobs and new, internationally significant clusters:-
► Materials chemistry including:- closer collaboration between Unilever's
global research and development facilities and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
hub in Port Sunlight, the University of Liverpool's top rated Chemistry
Department, and the Materials Innovation Factory, a partnership between
the 2.
► Infection - achieving new intellectual property, spin outs and business
growth from the work of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool
Health Partners, the University of Liverpool and the pharmaceutical firm Seqirus
in tackling infectious diseases
► High performance computing, utilising the supercomputer and expertise
at the Science and Technology Facilities Council Hartree Centre Daresbury (in
partnership with IBM and its "Watson" platform, plus Tech North to drive
cross sector innovation and business growth
Mayor of Liverpool and Chair of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Joe
Anderson, said:- "Liverpool City Region and Merseyside has a 1st class
track record in the fields of research and innovation and we have the potential
to be a world leader.
Our Universities are carrying out ground breaking research and educating
tomorrow's workforce, while some of our businesses are global leaders in the
pharmaceutical and household goods sectors.
The Audit will enable us to look at how we can link up different sectors so they
work together to make the most of their expertise and make the maximum impact
from bids for investment.
A good example is Liverpool's Knowledge Quarter, which provides us with a huge
opportunity to attract hi tech businesses which can cluster around the
pioneering work being done in the hospitals, universities and science labs."
Asif Hamid, Interim Chair of the Liverpool City Region LEP said:- "This is
fantastic news for the City Region. The Science and Innovation Audit will
provide a coherent picture of the local innovation strengths and assets and
highlight the important contribution that science and research excellence can
make to an effective Industrial Strategy and contribute to the ongoing
development of the Northern Powerhouse."
Welcoming the announcement, Dr.Jon Hague, Chair of the LEP Innovation Board and
Vice President Operations and Open Innovation for Unilever Global R&D, said:-
"The LCR+ Audit will accelerate the Innovation Board's work to commercialise
the City Region's distinctive scientific, industrial and innovation assets and
capabilities, and maximize cluster development and economic growth in areas
where we have genuinely world-leading potential, notably Materials Chemistry,
Infectious Diseases, plus High Performance Computing and Cognitive Computing.
What makes this particularly exciting is both the level of direct private sector
involvement in the process, e.g. by Unilever, IBM and Seqiris, plus what the
close collaboration with leading bodies across the North and beyond, such as the
Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) Catapult, could lead to."
The audit is expected to begin in the new year and be completed by spring 2017. |
