Catalysing Regional Innovation

The University of Leeds is driving regional innovation and economic growth through its place-based approach, leveraging research and innovation expertise, student talent, and collaborative partnerships. The Innovation Arc, a key West Yorkshire Investment Zone innovation district, exemplifies this strategy.

Working in close partnership with the Local Authority, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the NHS, Further Education and Higher Education Institutions across the region, the Leeds Innovation Partnership will boost the city’s ambition to deliver innovation that creates a healthier, greener and inclusive future for Leeds, the region and across the globe, and will create a talent pipeline at the forefront of technological advances.

At the heart of our approach are innovation clusters, which concentrate expertise and resources to accelerate innovation and address societal challenges. The establishment of a HealthTech innovation hub, in collaboration with the Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust and regional partners, will co-locate entrepreneurs, businesses, clinicians and academics onto a new site to deliver 4,000 new jobs and up to £13bn economic boost for the region. Providing such opportunities for inclusive and economic growth will benefit our local community and wider communities across the region, whilst working to innovate novel solutions to improve patient care across the NHS.

More broadly, the University is actively contributing to the regional innovation ecosystem by:

  • Developing a roadmap to strengthen key clusters: We co-developed an action framework for nascent cluster acceleration to support the delivery of long term sustainable growth across a regional portfolio through seed funding, upskilling and early stage support.
  • Supporting diverse start-ups solving societal challenges: Nexus, the hub of our innovation offer, has helped build a community of over 130 businesses, which have raised £117.3 million of private investment and secured £34.15 million of grant funding, with a return on investment of £1.92 for every £1 spent.
  • Engaging in challenge-led activities with partners: A West Yorkshire Mayoral Innovation Challenge led in partnership with Nesta. The innovative programme provides SMEs, entrepreneurs and start-ups with a real-world, West Yorkshire-based challenge or problem and the task of developing a new product, service, or technology designed to address that problem through a programme of specifically targeted support, coaching and mentoring.
  • Designing interventions to support start-up validation: Piloting a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) validation approach with a global leader in corporate accelerators and Leeds Beckett University.
  • Developing a diverse and inclusive community of entrepreneurial innovators and researchers:
    • The Innovative Entrepreneurs programme is part of the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s £6 million Enterprise West Yorkshire initiative, offering action learning to 75 diverse founders with innovative, high-impact ideas, delivered by 12 regional partners.
    • A partnership with the UK’s leading PhD deeptech venture programme, Conception X, unlocks the potential of scientific discoveries emerging from 15 researchers within the Leeds postgraduate research community and turns them into investable technologies.
    • The Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship, has supported over 65 researchers on their innovation and entrepreneurial journey with an intensive 9-month development programme providing a space to test and share their ideas and overcome challenges.
  • Generating risk equity for investment in the North: The establishment of Northern Gritstone, founded jointly by the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, is a powerful force for commercialising University spinouts and science and technology businesses to create a leading ecosystem of support and funding. With investment expected to reach £500 million, it will generate significant wealth to flow back into the economy of the North of England.

These efforts are laying the groundwork for an accelerator hub that will showcase the University’s unique role in fostering innovation ecosystems. By convening diverse stakeholders and aligning research strengths with regional priorities, the University of Leeds is catalysing innovation-driven entrepreneurship, inclusive economic growth and societal impact across the region.

 

Facts & Figures

  • Covering an area on the western side of the city centre equivalent to 185 football pitches, the Innovation Arc incorporates education, healthcare and cultural institutions.
  • The Innovation Zone will deliver 4,000 new jobs and an anticipated economic boost of up to £13 billion for the region.

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