Civic transformation and innovation
The University of Liverpool is a civic leader in the Liverpool City Region and is driving change through policy innovation and research excellence.
The University is a major driver of local change, spearheading innovations that improve wellbeing, standards of living and economic opportunities for people across the Liverpool City Region and beyond. Members of the University of Liverpool are present and active in key institutions and bodies that influence policy in the region, such as the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s (LCRCA) Business and Enterprise Board, the Innovation Board, and the new three Cluster Boards covering Advanced Manufacturing, Digital & Creative, and Health & Life Sciences.
The extensive collaboration the University undertakes with local and regional partners is illustrated by the contributions around policy and innovation.
Liverpool City Region policy partnerships
A key part of the University’s civic leadership in Liverpool City Region is the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place (HI), a public policy research institute focusing on the development of sustainable and inclusive cities and city regions. HI sits at the crossroads of research, policy and practice by bringing together academic expertise with policy-makers, practitioners and communities to inform and impact policy challenges in place. The academic partner of the Liverpool City Region All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), the HI taps into ground-breaking work happening University-wide across all faculties and disciplines and translates it into analyses, and recommendations that decision-makers can digest.
The HI is uniquely placed as a facilitator of knowledge exchange, that places it and the University at the forefront of policy innovation and is a civic leader. Research and policy engagement revolves around three interconnected themes of urban policy making: the future of cities and city-regions, regional inequalities, and public service reform.
The HI considers global policy challenges but aims to address these by applying a distinct Liverpool City Region lens to shape and influence policy solutions. Activity includes a policy briefing series generating 80+ publications since its launch in 2020, a diverse portfolio of research, events and thought leadership that range from convening stakeholders to high profile lectures (with noticeable recent speakers such as Lord Heseltine), and boundary-pushing publications. In Spring 2024, the HI launched a Manifesto for the Liverpool City Region and a Net Zero Manifesto for the Liverpool City Region.
Supporting the journey to an innovation superhub
The Liverpool City Region (LCR) has an ambitious target to invest 5% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in Research and Development by 2030. This is nearly double the national target of investing at least 2.4% of GDP in R&D by 2027.
In 2022, the LCRCA published an Innovation Prospectus that identified three world-leading specialisms (Infection Prevention & Control, Materials Chemistry, AI Solution & emerging technology) with the addition of net-zero innovation as key drivers for increasing productivity in the LCR and for the whole of the UK. The University of Liverpool plays a central role within all four of these clusters:
Health
The University hosts, or is a key partner in, several world-leading health centres that include:
- Pandemic Institute
- National Biofilms Innovation Centre
- Civic Health Innovation Labs
- Centre for Long-acting Therapeutics.
The University is a central pillar of the LCR Life Sciences Investment Zone that will expand public and private cross-sector collaboration, expanding existing relationships with players such as AstraZeneca. Find out more about our Heath Sector impact.
Materials chemistry
The University of Liverpool is home to a unique industry-academia partnership model with a long-running institutional partner Unilever and home to the Materials Innovation Factory.
Explore our collaborative research.
Digital technologies
The University of Liverpool is host to the Institute of Digital Engineering & Autonomous Systems (IDEAS), which combines the existing Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC) with the new Digital Innovation Facility (DIF).
Explore our collaborative research.
Net zero
Research contributing to net-zero runs throughout the University of Liverpool, including the above specialisms. Discover more about our sustainability and net-zero efforts.
Supporting the innovation ecosystem
The University of Liverpool is fostering an innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem both on and off campus. The Enterprise team helps academics translate their research for wider society by supporting licensing and spin-out activities. Innovators can access financial support through the Enterprise Fund and leverage the University’s connections with the NxNW Consortium, securing over £1 million of Innovate funding as start-up capital into their spinouts.
As of the 2022/23 academic year, since 2018 the Enterprise team had founded 20 spin-outs, invested £4.3 million of University Enterprise Investment funding, and leveraged £24 million of industry or grant funding into its spin-out companies and/or the University. in the team reported £4.9 million IP-related income to the University in 2022/23 and helped to create around 115 jobs.
Spin out companies from the University cover a wide range of sectors and address global challenges, including development of a point of care diagnostic for urinary tract infections (UTIs), medical diagnostics to reduce vision loss, and developing novel materials for carbon capture and renewable energy.