UK and the NorthernPowerhouse commits to international partnership to meet shared challenges and drive growth

Addressing the Global Innovation Summit in Manchester on 14 May, Science Minister Chris Skidmore announced the publication of the UK’s new International Research and Innovation Strategy, as part of the modern Industrial Strategy ambition to make sure the UK, and the north, remains a world leader in emerging technologies.

The strategy reflects the governments aspiration to see the UK draw systematically on research and innovation collaboration to build its economic growth while tackling global challenges. This has already been backed by a commitment of £7 billion over 5 years by 2022.

The Minister also announced a £4 million funding competition for UK participation in EUREKA projects that aim to get innovations to market quicker and other projects designed to boost networking among innovators and businesses. At the heart of these projects is building business relationships whilst developing new technologies such as AI, quantum technologies and using technology. In healthcare to improve life chances.

The EUREKA Global Innovation Summit is the flagship event of the UK Chairmanship of EUREKA. Held in Manchester this year, and attended by over 1,700 businesses from 65 countries, it was an opportunity to highlight how a thriving north is vital to our modern Industrial Strategy and shine a light on the work organisations in the north are doing. For example, QIAGEN who are working with the University of Manchester were able to showcase their to create a world-leading precision medicine campus, creating and supporting up to 1,500 jobs and adding £150 million to Manchester’s economy over a decade.

Alan Radford

Innovator of the Year Finalist 2019

I graduated in 1993 with degrees in veterinary science and molecular biology. These gave me the taste for research – the desire to work with others and find out new things that, in their own small way, could make a difference to animal and human health. Over the last 30 years, two other things became clear. Firstly, that pet animals’ impact massively on human health and wellbeing, and secondly, despite this, no one at a population level was looking after their collective health, nor how it affects their owners and wider society.

These observations all came together in SAVSNET, the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network. SAVSNET at the University of Liverpool is a truly collaborative effort that aims to help fill this knowledge gap in companion animal population health. It’s built on a network of veterinary practitioners and diagnostic laboratories across the UK supplying large volumes of electronic health data. These data are analysed by a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, computer scientists and microbiologists, and applied in innovative ways for which they were never originally designed. Using such a health informatics approach, we can now start to answer previously unanswerable questions of importance to practitioners, their patients and clients, as well as the wider human population. Our research is now beginning to help change the way pets are treated, from antibiotic use and resistance, to poisoning, vaccination and ticks.

What does it mean to be named a finalist? Honoured, humbled and flabbergasted. But mostly thrilled to be able to recognise the work of all the members of our interdisciplinary team that together are making this innovation possible.

AlgoMech Festival – Sheffield’s Festival of Algorithmic and Mechanical Movement

Sheffield algorithmic and mechanical arts festival AlgoMech took place across the city from the 17th – 19th May, exposing the innards of music and art in the form of code, robots and other strange systems, via an in-depth series of performances, talks, workshops and a live coded “algorave” club night.

The theme for the festival this year was ‘interlace’ – covering mechanical music performance mixed with live coded Algorave music, handmade dancing robots making braids on the maypole, the music of interference patterns, interactive e-textiles and other unlikely interweaving’s of diverse arts practices.

One of the highlights of the festival was the Patters of Movement Exhibition at the Sidney and Matilda Gallery, which showcased installations created by both textile and sound artists, including work developed during a group residency in the run-up to the festival, featuring works from Graham Dunning, Sandra de Berduccy, Berit Greinke and Antonio Roberts.

During the Festival there were pop-up performances in Sheffield’s central Winter Garden, ranging from hands-on activities, performances and the opportunity to dance around the maypole with handmade robots!

Danielle Flynn

Jaguar Land Rover

My name is Danielle Flynn and I am a fourth year Degree apprentice at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Halewood. Attracted by the learn-as-you-learn approach and clear career prospects, I applied for a Degree apprenticeship and am currently working in the Standards and Controls department in the Body Shop. Attending university alongside work has given me the chance to get straight into the working world. On top of that, I feel that the discipline of having a full-time job from such a young age has prepared me extremely well for life after the apprenticeship.

The opportunities I have had from my degree apprenticeship at JLR so far have truly been amazing. I have been directly involved in introducing new technologies into the business – for example, virtual commissioning – a technology which has been a focus point for the business from an efficiency perspective. Working with professionals daily and leading presentations has improved my confidence massively too. I have received amazing support from my team and have inspiring mentors who have supported me in becoming the first female STEM ambassador for JLR. Since then, I have represented women in engineering and JLR at many schools across Merseyside, including Big Bang STEM events at the Liverpool Exhibition Centre, local school outreach programs and presentations to head teachers. I am pleased to say that the feedback from all these sessions has been overwhelmingly positive, with everyone eager to hear about my personal experience and learn more about apprenticeships as a whole.

Being the only female degree apprentice in my year, I felt there was a need to encourage more females to experience STEM fields as they are typically underrepresented. Engineering opens so many pathways for life and I feel strongly about the need to challenge the mechanic boy stereotype that many young people have in mind when they think about engineering. Coming from a working-class background, I am a strong believer that empowerment through education is the ultimate route to social mobility; speaking to local students who were previously unaware of the options, beyond an exclusively academic route has been extremely rewarding. I know that many have since gone on to explore an apprenticeship as part of their research and career planning.

I feel so passionately about standing up for women in such a historically male dominated industry and hope to be able to make a real change going forward.

Northern start-ups boosted by Nexus’ collaboration with NorthInvest and KPMG

With its Spring unveiling drawing closer, the University of Leeds’ new innovation hub, Nexus, has made a strong start to the year, announcing that it has partnered with tech investment platform, NorthInvest, to connect start-ups and SMEs within their community to investment advice and funding support.

The partnership sees Nexus collaborate with Northern Powerhouse-backed NorthInvest to connect early-stage tech start-ups to investment through angel networks and funds, giving them the opportunity to scale-up and grow.

This closely follows the announcement that it has joined forces with one of the world’s leading professional services firms, KPMG, to bring business expertise to its community of start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs.

Nexus already offers its members access to the University of Leeds’ world leading research expertise and commercial business advice from KPMG.  The collaboration with NorthInvest will add to this with funding support from mentors and investors, helping the Nexus community to satisfy their business growth needs.

Commenting on the collaborations, Nexus Director, Dr Martin Stow, said: “Nexus is committed to accelerating business growth for start-ups and SMEs in the North.  We have built up an expert team, and developed a number of strategic commercial partnerships, to ensure that we can connect our members to the most appropriate expertise and support.

“We have a real synergy with both NorthInvest and KPMG, sharing a key objective of supporting the growth of innovative and exciting businesses in the Leeds City Region and helping new ventures to thrive.”

Amy Broadbelt

OneSubsea

My name is Amy Broadbelt, and I’m a 3^rd year apprentice at OneSubsea in Leeds. I began my journey towards my apprenticeship as a high schooler in Texas. Being surrounded by expat families in the oil industry, working towards an engineering career was not uncommon, and as I had a keen interest in maths and science, this route seemed suitable for me. As I am originally from Leeds, I was eager to move back to begin my career. After applying online with OneSubsea, I then completed some online screener and aptitude tests provided by Appris to assess my knowledge on engineering-based topics. After successfully completing the tests and attending Skype interviews, I was offered 1 of 5 available positions as a Mechanical Engineering Apprentice at OneSubsea, and so I moved back to the UK after living abroad for 4 years.

My first 2 years at OneSubsea were spent rotating around areas such as weld, machining, six sigma, and health and safety on the shop floor. Additionally, I attended Appris part time to gain my PEO and BTEC qualifications. To gain my level 2 diploma in PEO, once a week I used the workshop facilities at Appris to complete the fitting, turning, and milling units. To gain my level 3 BTEC qualification, I attended Appris a second day a week to learn in a classroom environment from tutors with practical experience in the industry. Working at a large plant with over 30 apprentices and attending a training centre filled with like-minded students studying the same units for similar industries allowed for the opportunity to meet new people and make friends and connections within the area.

Unfortunately, during the 2^nd year of my apprenticeship an announcement was made that the Leeds Plant of OneSubsea was closing. This meant that all manufacturing employees were at risk of redundancy, including the apprentices. With this news, both OneSubsea and Appris made it their priority to help the current apprentices find a new position that would allow us to successfully continue our apprenticeship. After considering several options, I then made the decision continue my employment with OneSubsea by moving into an office-based role in the Engineering department. I was then able to complete my BTEC to a distinction level, and further progress my career by enrolling onto the HNC course at Appris.

Transferring into the Engineering Department has allowed me to contribute towards the innovation and improvements of the products that OneSubsea have to offer. In the current climate, customers in the industry are demanding longer life cycles and lighter and cheaper products. As an apprentice with limited knowledge, I can offer a fresh set of eyes to the design process and raise questions regarding why products are designed a certain way and what is stopping us from improving that design which would help to meet the customer demands. Throughout the remainder of my career I endeavour to continue to contribute ideas and work with others as the industry continues to evolve and improve.

Graphene City

James Baker, CEO of Graphene@Manchester at The University of Manchester discusses the road to Graphene City and how it will help change the 2D landscape and build a skilled workforce – a key part of building a Britain fit for the future and the Industrial Strategy.

The world is changing in fundamental ways. Technological innovations are transforming how we live and work. The proportion of older people in our society is growing. The way we generate and use energy is changing rapidly. In the UK we need to tackle huge challenges. As the world becomes more connected we need to travel more often and at greater speeds. To do this we’ll need stronger, lighter materials. The electrification of the nation’s automotive fleet; the need to radically transform battery technology are also prevalent.

Research and innovation in advanced materials at The University of Manchester focuses on solving some of the world’s most critical problems. The University aims to create, develop and sustain an eco system of researchers, innovators, engineers, value chain partners, capital and service providers, working symbiotically in a ‘Graphene City’, where skilled scientists and engineers can collaborate in a well-resourced, world-class environment to develop and scale new technologies, products and processes.

The University of Manchester hosts world-class capabilities that are at the forefront of research into graphene and related 2D materials. The National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (set to open later this year) will be the corner stone of Graphene City® which will accelerate the commercial pace graphene and 2D materials. Together the two facilities along with the Henry Royce Institute will provide an innovation ecosystem including academics and industrial partners to take graphene and 2D materials from fundamental research to finished product. Reinforcing Manchester’s position as a global leader in graphene research and commercialisation at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse.

As significant additional infrastructure and resource for such a City will shortly be in place, the challenge is not to seek investment for additional buildings, but to build bridges between the disparate entities involved with graphene/2D materials research and commercialisation to ensure they cooperate and collaborate openly, freely and effectively.

The commercial opportunities arising from this broad and well-resourced academic research are significant in their scope and scale, and through partnership and collaboration with Industry should lead to a wide range of innovative technologies, products, processes and services.

To achieve our full potential we need to be focused on improving advanced materials to solve some of the world’s most critical problems. Our advanced materials infrastructure, a key part of the Industrial Strategy, provides a fantastic opportunity to drive growth in our region by exporting world-leading knowledge and products to a global marketplace.

The University of Manchester leads two of the largest robotics projects ever funded in the UK and is the central point for a wealth of research on robotics and AI. and the Robotics for Nuclear Environments Programme are both funded by UKRI and EPSRC. These projects not only gather together the wealth of talent within the University of Manchester, but also bring together the best robotics researchers from across the UK.

Below is a flavour of some of the innovative robotics programmes tackling a range of real world problems.

Avexis is the smallest commercially available submersible robot, about the size of a football. It’s designed to be used in radioactive environments to help with clean-up operations. This is the only robot to ever be deployed into the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo on the Sellafield site facility – considered to be the most hazardous building in Europe. Researchers in Japan are working with the RAIN team to develop a similar device for use in the Fukushima-Daiichi reactors.

MIRRAX is a ground robot that can be used to enter a facility through a gap the size of a drain pipe and then create a 3D scan of the surrounding environment. It was the first robot to ever be deployed into the Magnox reprocessing facility in Sellafield.

CARMA can seek out sources of radioactive contamination in a facility, in a completely autonomous manner. Earlier this year it became the first autonomous robot to ever be deployed on the Sellafield site and it is now being commercialised.

MALLARD, developed with the International Atomic Energy Agency, is a floating platform designed to inspect nuclear fuel storage ponds and work out whether any fuel has been illicitly removed. The RAIN team are currently exploring opportunities for deploying MALLARD in the UK to inspect storage ponds with UK nuclear industry.

Barry Lennox is Professor of Applied Control at The University of Manchester and Director of the RAIN hub. His work developing intelligent robotic systems, such as those four examples above, has afforded him an in-depth perspective on the issues that companies and researchers will face when trying to incorporate new technology:

“It is really important that regulators are aware of what robotic technology is and is not capable of doing today, as well as understanding what the technology might be capable of doing over the next 3-5 years.”

“There is also a requirement to establish how new technology should be demonstrated to convince regulators and nuclear operating companies that it can be safely deployed into sensitive environments and provide benefits. Where established systems that clearly demonstrate the ability to solve specific industry challenges exist, policymakers and regulators should encourage the deployment of the technology into industry, particularly in situations where it removes people from harm.”

“It is encouraging to see that UK Government has included robotics and autonomous systems as one of its Grand Challenges and recent investment in this area should see the development of new technology that has a significant impact on industry productivity”

Edge Hill University’s £13m Tech Hub houses advanced facilities including the CAVE, the UK’s first super immersive 3D virtual environment.

The first of its kind in any British university, the four-screen CAVE (Computer Augmented Virtual Environment) offers students, staff, local businesses and schools the chance to fully immerse themselves in a virtual room creating new and exciting possibilities for teaching and learning.
The CAVE is a room-scale virtual reality projection system which allows up to 10 users at a time to view virtual content in an interactive setting, effectively transforming the room into an immersive 3D environment that can realistically replicate real life scenarios. The 4K resolution screens allow for finer details and more vibrant colours than any other virtual reality system, giving users a much more accurate sense of space than head-mounted displays.

The CAVE is just one part of the Tech Hub, which is supported by a £3 million investment from Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership. Over 600 students can be accommodated in state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, and a Harvard-style lecture theatre. The facilities also make a major contribution to the development of advanced industry in the North West and have a positive impact on the regional economy.

Rachel Bury, one of the managers from Library and Learning Services, said: “Seeing the plans come to life in the CAVE was one of the most exciting activities we used in terms of planning and preparing staff for the move into Catalyst. It’s a totally unique experience to be in the CAVE with colleagues and then, as the technology is switched on, you are suddenly standing in Catalyst. We were able to explore the building floor by floor, getting the feel of how big it would be and how the space would look with furniture, books, and more importantly, all the staff and students in it.”

The time has never been better for businesses looking to launch, grow and succeed in the vibrant landscape of The Northern Powerhouse.

Scores of businesses right across the north are currently benefiting from a new age of innovation and investment, the largest of its kind for 40 years.

And many more could be tapping into funds and taking advantage of the wealth of opportunities that The Northern Powerhouse is bringing.

Now, in a bid to ensure no-one misses out, a major call has gone out to small and medium-sized businesses in towns across the north to seize the chance to grow and join the region’s economic revival.

Already generous financial support from The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has aided countless businesses, some well-established, others at start-up stage. They include SMEs working in traditional areas and others busy developing ground-breaking new products and services, who all sought support to drive forward their innovative businesses.

Among the businesses to benefit from Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund support is Hull-based health-tech start-up Moodbeam, whose wearable mood recording devices are designed to help bring much-needed support for people battling anxiety, stress and low mood. Dreamed up by mum and former journalist Christina Colmer McHugh after her daughter became anxious at school, the remarkable device enables users to log their mood and monitor their emotional well-bearing.

By linking to an online and mobile platform which shows how moods change over time, the wearers, parents, carers – even employers – can spot patterns of stress or anxiety, presenting the opportunity to respond and provide support.

Christina founded Moonbeam in 2016 along with The Gadget Shop founder and Red5 co-founder Jonathan Elvidge. Now a £200,000 boost from NPIF-Mercia Equity Finance, managed by Mercia Fund and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, is now enabling Moonbeam to put its award-winning device into production.

Christina said: “It’s been a two-year journey, but Moodbeam has been shown to provide valuable insights into wellbeing and mental health. We set out to create a device with the potential to change lives. This investment will help to make that possible. Prototypes of the device have undergone multiple trials and the company, based in Hull’s Centre for Digital Innovation (C4DI), has received interest from potential users including a university, the NHS, businesses, sports councils and health campaigners.”

Simon Crabtree, Investment Manager with Mercia Fund Managers, said: “Moodbeam has proven to be a powerful offering, thanks to its ability to timestamp emotions and provide an ‘at a glance’ way to see how people feel. The technology could have a wide range of uses, from supporting children and young adults and the elderly in care to enhancing wellbeing in the workplace and sports performance. The funding will allow the company to take the next step in bringing it to market.”

Local businesses across a wide range of sectors – including some specialising in areas crucial to our future environment and economy, such as AI, clean growth, social care and mobility – have received major support from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. The opportunities presented by The Northern Powerhouse have been described as the most significant to become available across the region for well over a generation – which means missing out just doesn’t make sense.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, which is supported financially by the European Union, works with various lenders and investors to create funding packages to help businesses grow. It is currently seeking small and medium-sized businesses who want to be part of the movement to reinvigorate the north and lay the foundations for a globally competitive future.

Discover how the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund could help boost your business by visiting www.npif.co.uk