Refresh of Liverpool City Region’s 2017 Science and Innovation Audit

Steer ED, supported by Arthur D. Little and DMS Research and Consulting, have been commissioned by Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority and partners to produce a thorough refresh of the pathfinding Science and Innovation Audit (SIA), developed by Steer ED in 2017. This is the first ‘SIA refresh’ commissioned by a Combined Authority’ and, in the context of LCR’s recently announced Innovation Prospectus, seeks to do the following:

• Understand the LCR’s present science and innovation capacities and capabilities, relative to 2017;
• Review critically (i) how the City Region’s capabilities in Infection, Materials Chemistry and High Performance/Cognitive Computing, recommended in 2017, have developed, and (ii) new capabilities which have emerged since then;
• Highlight those here-and-now challenges and opportunities which need to be addressed and maximised for LCR to achieve its ambitious innovation intents.

The work involves:

• Detailed Analysis of key socioeconomic and innovation metrics, alongside REF2021 performance, and business R&D spend;
• Consultation with over 60 industry, public sector and academic stakeholders;
• The development of a new approach to characterise the LCR’s main innovation assets and their potential to help drive forward clusters and agglomerations; and
• A rapid document review (c. 50 documents, plus wider research).

The refreshed SIA will be launched in July 2022 by the Combined Authority, supporting its Innovation Prospectus.