Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee visit MIF
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The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee (DSIT) visited the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) yesterday (Tuesday, 10 December) as part of a wider visit to the Knowledge Quarter.
The purpose of the visit, which was their first offical visit, was to find out how the region's UK-leading approach to innovation is maximising its world-leading strengths and driving economic growth.
An £81milllion state of the art facility created in partnership with Unilever, the MIF brings together world leading materials chemistry expertise with the latest computational and robotic equipment to accelerate the research and development of advanced materials.
DSIT learnt about the MIF’s pioneering research and unique partnership model approach before touring the facility.
The Committee also visited the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where they learnt about the iiCON programme, and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), where MPs were welcomed by Mayor Steve Rotheram.
The Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Chi Onwurah MP, said:
“The Committee was delighted to visit Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter today and see some of the ground-breaking science and technology developments it houses. Not only this, but the KQ is a great example of how innovation can boost regional economic growth and benefit local communities.
“Today, we’ve also launched an inquiry to explore how innovation investment can kickstart growth and prosperity in the UK’s regions. What we’ve heard today will feed into this and has reinforced the importance of ensuring that innovation helps communities across the country.”
Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Jones said:
“It was a great pleasure to welcome the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee to the University to tour the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), our flagship centre for materials discovery. The visit provided the opportunity to showcase the MIF’s pioneering research, exceptional facilities and unique partnership model which supports academic-industrial collaboration, drives innovation and boosts economic growth in the region and the UK.”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:
“It’s a great sign of confidence in the Liverpool City Region that the committee has chosen to visit us as part of its national fact-finding mission.
“Our region is a powerful example of how innovation, driven by collaboration between businesses, universities and public sector partners, can unlock growth and deliver lasting benefits for local communities.
“We’ll continue to invest in cutting-edge research and development, ensuring that we’re enhancing our world-class innovation assets but also creating thousands of high-quality jobs and driving the UK’s future prosperity.”
The cross-party committee’s role is to ensure policy and decision making at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is guided by scientific evidence.
It will use its fact-finding mission to inform a Parliamentary inquiry into the UK innovation landscape to identify how the Government could improve regulation, investment and funding.
Professor Janet Hemingway, Founding Director of iiCON, said:
“LSTM has just celebrated its 125th Anniversary. The journey began with support from local business. It is timely that the Select Committee is able to see for itself the relevance of its activity to industry today, as highlighted by the LSTM-Led Consortium iiCON, a £222M programme which provides access to cutting edge technology to support business and brings much needed new infection therapeutics to market.”
Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, said:
“Through collaboration and a sense of shared ambition across our partnership, we have been able to create a dynamic innovation district in the heart of Liverpool city centre, harnessing and amplifying our strengths in health and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, materials chemistry, robotics and creative and digital technology.
“We were delighted to welcome the Select Committee today and it is incredibly rewarding to see that the government has identified Knowledge Quarter Liverpool as an exemplar of how innovation can drive economic growth and create better outcomes for our local communities across the Liverpool City Region.”
The cross-party committee’s role is to ensure policy and decision making at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is guided by scientific evidence.
It will use its fact-finding mission to inform a Parliamentary inquiry into the UK innovation landscape to identify how the Government could improve regulation, investment and funding.