Kate Hainsworth, YU Associate Consultant Sunshine nourished ideas and partnerships at the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) 2025, hosted at Leeds dock on the banks of the River Aire. The three-day extravaganza welcomed over 16,000 delegates from national and local government, investors, developers, clients and the wider built environment to talk about …
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has confirmed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce, at the Spending Review on Wednesday, a funding package for R&D worth £86 billion over the next five years. The investment will also feature a new £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LPIF) earmarked for local leaders. Commenting …
The Government is working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and with Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs), to develop a ‘regional innovation funding programme’ as part of the wider devolution arrangements published in the English Devolution White Paper in December 2024. More recently, the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has indicated that a high-level …
Lydia van den Dries, Corporate and Foundation Philanthropy Relationship Manager at the University of York. We’d love to tell you about a new initiative in our region, GenerationResearch (GenRes). We often hear how important it is to support the highly-skilled science workforce of the future, but how do we do that in a way that …
Commenting after the publication of Invest 2035: the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director of Yorkshire Universities (YU), said: “The evidence and practice are clear that long-term industrial strategy, featuring clear priorities and recognition of spatial dimensions, is critical to driving increased prosperity and more sustainable and inclusive growth. “We welcome the publication …
Over the summer, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) ran an online survey to gather stakeholder views on how they can shape investments in places to maximise national, regional and local impact. Yorkshire Universities submitted a response to UKRI highlighting the importance of collaboration and the need for support for regional and local innovation ecosystems. We …
Marina Tapley, Policy and Research Officer On Friday 3 December the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) published their State of the Relationship 2021 report and held an online launch event. This think piece reflects on the report and event, as well as situating them within the context of the relationships between universities and …
Recently, Nesta launched a report exploring how cities and regions collaborate internationally on innovation. If done effectively, international collaborations offer the opportunity to hit multiple policy priorities: levelling up regions, boosting investment in R&D towards 2.4 percent of GDP, and strengthening overseas relationships post-Brexit.
Last week, I was in Montréal speaking at an international conference on the subject of regional innovation. The event coincided with half a million people – many of them aged under 16, including the activist, Greta Thunberg – taking to the streets of the city to call for action to address the climate emergency.
Whilst in Canada, I heard of some ground-breaking studies and policies on local and regional research and innovation processes. Coupled with how science and expertise is shaping public opinion on a theme as substantive as climate change, my visit to Québec re-emphasised to me the importance we should attach to universities building and sustaining effective relationships with local communities and the wider public, as well as business and governments.
Yesterday I attended the annual conference of the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), in Leeds, entitled, ‘Transforming Lives Through Innovation’. The previous day I was at the White Rose Consortium’s Industrial Strategy ‘Working in Partnership’ final conference, which showcased the contribution of the social sciences to meeting industrial strategy opportunities and challenges. The timing of the two conferences came a matter of hours after the first of four speeches by the Universities Minister, Chris Skidmore, setting out how the Government intends to achieve its ‘2.4% R&D/innovation investment’ target by 2027.