LCR PLACE-BASED INNOVATION OVERVIEW

By LCR Innovation Lead

John Whaling

Liverpool City Region

Combined Authority

The Liverpool City Region (LCR) has been changing the world for more than 300 years through pioneering science, inventions, and technologies relating to health, engineering, materials, and maritime.

Not so well known is that we have ongoing world-leading capabilities in associated disciplines, and are also at the current forefront of UK place-based innovation. What does that term mean? Essentially maximising distinctive assets and expertise to drive regional and UK growth, PLUS solve local challenges…

This is latterly based on 11 years of exceptionally close cross-sectoral collaboration since the formation of the UK’s first sub-regional Innovation Board in 2014, chaired by Dr. Jon Hague, Unilever’s Homecare R&D Head of Clean Future Science and Technology, highlighting the critical importance of business and industry in translating research into real world impact.

We were also the first place to sign a Partnership/Action Plan agreement with Innovate UK, are one of only three UK places with both a £160million innovation Investment Zone plus £25million Freeport programme, piloted UK Research & Innovation’s (UKRI) national Launchpad programme last year that is now being rolled out to 8 further localities, and in iiCON (see below) have the most successful of any Strength in Places projects ever funded by UKRI. We have also developed our own pioneering approaches, from a new innovation ABCD (asset-based cluster development) model, to a first ever LCR Innovation Investment Week earlier this year, and dedicated deep tech investment and collaborative R&D commercialisation vehicle LYVA Labs.

Our UK-leading ambition is enshrined in the Mayor’s mission to invest 5% of GVA in R&D a year by 2030, which if realised could mean a net additional £20b GVA, 44,000 jobs, and the UK government’s two primary science and innovation campuses (the other being STFC Harwell in Oxfordshire).

10% productivity increase, and would be truly transformational.

Achieving this is linked to a £1.9 billion pipeline of innovation-related projects plus £725 million live schemes, all geared towards maximising our distinctive worldleading capabilities in Infection Prevention & Control, Materials Chemistry, and AI Solutions & Emerging Technologies, as evidenced by the 2017 and 2022 Science & Innovation.

These in turn relate to a series of world class innovation assets with academia-industry partnership at their core, notably the STFC Hartree Centre with IBM, the University of Liverpool’s Materials Innovation Factory with Unilever, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine led iiCON programme working with 800 businesses worldwide that has levered a £20M UKRI grant up to more than £260M, the world’s first Civic Data Cooperative (CDC) based at the University of Liverpool led Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL), and unique global glass industry led Glass Futures industrial decarbonisation campus and glass innovation centre of excellence.

The strapline of the Combined Authority’s new Corporate Plan is “innovating for growth”, reflecting our own catalytic role led by Mayor Steve Rotheram. This ranges from convening and coordinating the LCR ecosystem, to direct investment in key projects such as LYVA Labs, Baltic Ventures, Angel Network, iiCON, Glass Futures, to managing the major IZ and Freeport programmes. It also includes future skills development and big-ticket investments in innovative infrastructure: electric trains, hydrogen buses, the 212km gigabit capable LCR connect digital backhaul network, and what would be the world’s largest tidal power project now being consulted on.

These assets are mainly but not exclusively concentrated within two (inter)nationally significant hubs: Knowledge Quarter Liverpool – comprising half of the city centre, taking in the main university faculties, largest research hospital, and Hope Street cultural area - and STFC Daresbury Laboratory at Sci-Tech Daresbury, UKRI’s northern HQ and one of

So what else is in the pipeline? Key priorities include ongoing evidence-based policy/ strategy development to push for large scale, long-term devolved innovation funding, delivery of the Life Sciences Innovation/Investment Zone and Freeport programmes, scaling out our infection and materials clusters as well as new quantum cluster development at STFC Daresbury linked to the potential National Cryogenics Facility and world leader PsiQuantum’s existing R&D lab, producing a first ever LCR maritime innovation action plan, an inaugural international AI Summit in November, LCR Innovation Investment Fortnight in May 2025, a greater challengeled and inclusive innovation focus, including delivering the national Office for Public Service Innovation pilot and applying the world’s first city-scale digital twinning and AI-enabled decision support platform, developed at the University of Liverpool’s Digital Innovation Facility; the list goes on!