The Innovating
Together - Universities in the North East (In-TUNE) partnership has been launched
by Northumbria, Durham, Newcastle and Sunderland Universities, alongside
technology innovation catalyst CPI, to deliver two business support programmes
which aim to strengthen the North East economy.
The North East’s universities
have received £4.75m from Durham County Council and North of Tyne Combined
Authority through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to work together to
help strengthen business in the North East, driving forward the Levelling Up
agenda and growing the region’s economy.
UKSPF is part of the UK government’s Levelling Up programme
providing £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. Led by
Durham University, In-TUNE is targeting one of the key objectives of the Fund,
aiming to boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private
sector, especially in those places where they are lagging.
Jenny
Taylor, Director of Economic Development, Northumbria University, said: “We are
delighted that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is investing in the regional
In-TUNE programme. This investment will enable Northumbria University to
further strengthen our innovation support to ambitious local companies and to
continue to offer targeted support to our entrepreneurial academic workforce,
expanding on our excellent success to date in this area. In-TUNE builds on
significant historical delivery across the regional partner universities and
further embeds our collaborative approach to driving economic growth in the
region, by helping businesses to create innovative products and services and
supporting the creation of new high-quality jobs here in the North East.”
Richard Baker, Director of Economic
Development and Commercialisation at Durham University, said: “In-TUNE is an
important strategic partnership which brings together and grows Northern
Accelerator to support academic entrepreneurs, and Arrow to support regional
businesses start-up, innovate and grow.
“Our universities are one of the North
East’s great strengths. Each university is distinctive and makes significant
individual contributions locally and regionally. By working together on these
key initiatives, we will make a real impact on the strength of the business
base in the region. We are also ambitious to do more, and we are looking
forward building on these successful programmes through In-TUNE to achieve more
together. Over the last five years Newcastle University’s flagship business support programme,
Arrow, has helped regional SMEs innovate by connecting them with expertise from
Newcastle University, strengthening the local economy along the way.
In-TUNE is driving the
expansion of Arrow across the region, and organisations in County Durham and
North of Tyne Combined Authority areas can now access innovation support from
all four North East universities to develop new products and processes.
An independent review
forecasts that within the next three years the initial phase of Arrow will have
helped regional SMEs to create 143 new jobs, develop 53 new products or
services, increase private investment by £2.6m and increase turnover by £16.9m.
Professor Jane Robinson,
Newcastle University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor Engagement and Place, said:
“We are delighted that this funding will allow us to extend and expand our
successful flagship Arrow programme to help businesses innovate.
“Businesses will now be
able to access a wider pool of researchers, expertise and facilities from
across four of the North East's universities.
“Innovation is key to a
successful economy and over the last five years we've seen that Arrow helps to
increase innovation activity in local businesses, creating exciting new
products and services, along with high quality jobs.”
In-TUNE is also supporting Northern
Accelerator, an innovative programme led by Durham University in collaboration
with Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and York Universities to
commercialise research and create real-world impact.
Northern Accelerator has transformed the
commercialisation of research in the North East, making a significant contribution
to the region’s economy. To date 47 spinout businesses have been created
through the programme’s robust support model, with many now based in innovation
clusters at Newcastle’s Helix and County Durham’s North East Technology Park
(NETPark).
An external evaluation forecasts that
Northern Accelerator will
have added an additional £140m to the value of the North East economy by 2030,
measured in GVA. That contribution to the region’s economy is
well underway, with spinouts from the partner universities raising over £100m
investment in the last five years and currently employing over 650 people.
Dr
Tim Hammond, programme lead for Northern Accelerator, said: “Since 2016
Northern Accelerator has evolved into a six-university partnership, continuing
to grow and expand the support to allow academic spinouts the best chance of
success. De-risking investment opportunities and creating strong management teams
to lead businesses that employ people in high-value jobs here in the North
East.
“This new funding from UKSPF is a huge
boost to the partnership, allowing us to further develop the flagship elements
of our programme that have embedded our best-practice support across our
partner universities, ensuring the pipeline of high-tech businesses continues
to accelerate, and strengthening the North East’s innovation ecosystem.”
Sarah Slaven, Managing Director of
Business Durham, said: "The dynamic
collaboration between our local universities and businesses is essential to our
region's economic growth. Together, we can provide pioneering businesses with not
only additional support but also vital infrastructure, such as the cutting-edge
workspace at the North East Technology Park (NETPark). Our strong
relationships, particularly with Durham University, have helped us to develop
an innovative ecosystem that is creating high-value jobs for the future."
Councillor
Nick Kemp, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Innovation and Growth at North of Tyne
Combined Authority and Leader of Newcastle City Council, said: “Innovation
is key to unlocking the great potential in Newcastle and the wider region. Our
universities, innovation assets such as the CPI and the In-TUNE project have a
key role to play – ensuring we stand out globally as the UK’s test-bed
location, a ‘Living Lab’ for rapid innovation, demonstration and
commercialisation of products and services which will address inequalities and
lead to a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive economy.
“I
welcome the significant investment being made by NTCA to open up the world
class assets and expertise within our universities for the benefit of regional
businesses and the creation of high-value jobs. There has never been a more important
time to invest in innovation in our region. “
Northern
Accelerator case study: PulmoBioMed
Northern
Accelerator has supported Northumbria University spinout PulmoBioMed Ltd. Led
by Northumbria’s Professor Sterghios
Moschos, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of PulmoBioMed, and with
InnovateUK ICURe support, the team has developed PBM-HALE™, the most reliable
device for retrieving uncontaminated samples of the deep lung, entirely
non-invasively. This device could revolutionise the early diagnosis and speed
of treatment for patients suffering from a range of conditions, including
asthma, lung cancer, paediatric wheeze, and lung infections. PulmoBioMed is in
the final stages of closing its first investment round with terms agreed with a
UK lead investor.
Arrow
case study: Nanovery
Nanovery
is a cutting-edge biotech company developing nanorobots that will be used to
diagnose deadly diseases at an early stage. Nanovery's technology has the
potential to dramatically reduce the cost and turnaround time of a liquid
biopsy, making it more accessible to patients and healthcare providers.
The
Arrow project allowed Nanovery to test their prototype in a lab with clinically
relevant cell lines. The team gained insight into the type of data they needed
to validate their technology.
The
results from this project helped Nanovery secure Innovate UK grant funding
which allowed the company to set up operations in the Biosphere at Newcastle
Helix. The company has now raised in £1.85million investment, employs a team of
nine and hosts two PhD students from Newcastle University to develop their
diagnostic test.
Northern
Accelerator case study: Magnitude Biosciences
Based
at County Durham’s NETPark, Magnitude Biosciences is bringing the power of C.
elegans technology to industry to accelerate drug discovery, help find new
supplements and make products less toxic. C. elegans were the first
multicellular organisms to have their complete genome sequenced and have been a
powerful model in academic biology for years. Magnitude now aims to bring that
power to sectors such as biotech, health products and manufacturing, and
pharmaceuticals.
