The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) warmly welcomes the announcement of a £60 million Regional Innovation Fund, which will enable university and business collaboration at a local level.
In response to today’s announcement, Dr Joe Marshall, Chief Executive of NCUB, said: “Effective university and business collaboration is the linchpin to establishing and growing the UK’s knowledge-led economy. We therefore warmly welcome today’s news that the Regional Innovation Fund will enable better collaboration at a local level in England to drive up regional economic development.”
Marshall continued: “The wide breadth of benefits that partnerships between universities and businesses deliver should not be underestimated, at both a national and local level. University-business collaboration delivers long-lasting and widely shared benefits across the economy and society. Collaboration plays a fundamental role in furthering the UK’s research and innovation goals, it is central in driving economic growth and is key in boosting global health, responding to the climate crisis and tackling wider global challenges. It’s no exaggeration to say collaboration is vital to the UK’s future success. To realise the UK’s ambition to become a more innovative, prosperous and highly skilled economy, links between businesses and universities are critical.”
Marshall concluded “Whilst the benefits of collaboration are therefore clear, and whilst we are supportive of the measures announced today in furthering this, we also sound a note of caution. We must remember that post Brexit the UK is no longer be eligible for support from the European Regional Development Fund. This Fund helped to catalyse university-business collaboration across the UK at a local level. Whether the Regional Innovation Fund will help to even out this loss, remains to be seen.”
