The Corporate Finance Faculty was delighted to again support the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Innovation Investment Summit in May.
The summit, delivered by ICAEW North West Region, welcomed business leaders, policy experts and other stakeholders to explore the role of innovation and investment in the region. The event played host to speakers and panellists from a range of innovative businesses including BioGrad, ORCHA, Sci-Tech Daresbury, Northern Gritstone, and more.
The Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram opened the 2023 LCR Innovation Investment Summit at The Spine, in Liverpool's Knowledge Quarter.
Mayor Rotheram said that the past year had been a “complete game changer for the Liverpool City Region”. He highlighted a string of recent successes including the ground-breaking strategic partnership with Innovate UK, the Baltic Accelerator programme, the launch of the city region’s new fleet of publicly owned hydrogen buses and £500m trains, which are some of the most accessible and sophisticated in the country, potential for the world's largest tidal power scheme in Mersey Tidal Power, the opening of the Liverpool City Region’s Freeport - and the widely-acclaimed success of hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine.
Mayor Rotheram also used the event to launch the refreshed LCR Innovation Prospectus that reaffirms the city region's ambition to invest 5% of GVA in R&D annually by 2030, a target which is nearly double that of the national target, whilst aiming to become net zero by 2040 - a full 10 years ahead of the UK’s goal.
The Innovation Prospectus outlines the region’s plans to add an estimated £42bn to the city region’s economy, create 44,000 jobs and generate a 10% boost to productivity.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve already achieved – but this is just a down payment on my future ambitions. I want us to go even further and catapult our region to the forefront of UK science and innovation.
“Our Innovation Prospectus is our roadmap to do just that – it showcases the full breadth and depth of our ambitions and demonstrates the unique place-based approach that continues to make our area one of the most lucrative locations to invest in.”
Lorna Green, CEO of LYVA Labs, said: “LCR has ambitious targets for R&D-linked innovation growth in the next ten years, linked to a growing cluster of science, innovation, and industrial assets of national and global importance. LYVA Labs aims to harness these regional assets by fostering collaborations, developing investment opportunities, and mentoring innovation talent, to extend real growth opportunities to SMEs and innovative businesses across the region.”
It is very pleasing that some of the initiatives agreed at the inaugural event in 2022 are now in place and delivering clear benefits to fast growing, innovative businesses.
The event was supported by the LCR Combined Authority, Innovate UK, the British Business Bank, LCR Connect, Preqin First Close, LYVA Labs and the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
Chair, Steve Stuart concluded “This summit really demonstrates the progress the City Region is making; innovation is the key to economic growth and success over the next 7 years. It is really amazing to see so many significant projects coming together across the city region. This environment provides SMEs with a real opportunity to get on the growth journey and flourish over the next few years.”
ICAEW have confirmed that the summit will return to Liverpool on 23 May 2024, to continue to drive the innovation agenda in the City Region.
For further details, sponsorship information please contact alex.pilkington@icaew.com
View recordings from the summit:
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