The Liverpool City Region has signed a “landmark” deal to drive innovation outside of London and the South East.
This is one of Innovate UK’s first regional partnerships, and is designed to ensure closer collaboration between the city region and the agency, which is responsible for driving innovation.
“I want this partnership to help power our journey to becoming a global science and innovation superpower,” said Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.
“For too long the North has been treated like a poor relation to the Golden Triangle. But, as this agreement shows, we are working to fix that imbalance. We are home to world-leading, innovative work in a whole range of industries. It’s a fantastic foundation to build our ambitions upon.”
The plan is to invest 5% of the city’s region’s economy into research and development. This could create around 44,000 high-skilled, well-paid jobs for local people and add £42bn to the local economy.
Rotheram and Innovate UK Chief Executive Indro Mukerjee launched the partnership at The City of Liverpool College, where they also met students. An important part of this scheme is to inspire future generations into science and innovation.
“There are exciting and significant opportunities to help drive economic and societal improvement through business innovation right across the Liverpool City Region, and this Action Plan sets out clear ambitions to realise the potential of those opportunities,’ said Mukerjee.
“We see this as the first of many regional partnerships in support of levelling up.”
