BLOG – How Catapults help ideas fly in innovation districts

/in /by

Catapults play a critical role in the UK’s innovation ecosystem and its prospects for further economic growth. Established and supported by Innovate UK, Catapults help innovation organisations to turn their bright ideas into reality by providing them with a commercial interface between academia and the private sector. 

At Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool), we are fortunate to have seen first-hand the positive impact they can have across our innovation district and the wider city region. 

The UK has nine Catapults with a national presence spanning over 65 locations. Their specialisms range from Medicines Discovery to Compound Semiconductors and Offshore Renewables, each with a particular focus on late-stage R&D, helping innovative businesses get their high potential ideas to market.

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), part of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, calls Liverpool Science Park its home in the north west. Since 2010 it has established a proven record in helping to deliver innovation in manufacturing and technology solutions through collaboration with purpose, helping to transform industries and change lives for the better. 

As a leading research and technology organisation at the forefront of manufacturing innovation, MTC transforms how products are designed, made and built so that they can be produced on a commercial scale – more sustainably, effectively and safely.

Charlie Whitford, Director of North West Region at MTC says:

“As the MTC celebrates our 10th year in Liverpool we continue to grow our support for industry in the region and draw on regional capabilities to support industry across the UK. In particular, the MTC in LCR hosts the Digital Manufacturing Accelerator, the UK’s leading hub for the commercial acceleration of digital manufacturing technologies supported by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.”

CPI, which also has an office at Sciontec-owned Liverpool Science Park, is part of HVM Catapult. This gives CPI direct involvement in UK and EU science and innovation strategy alongside sustained investment to ensure staff and facilities are at the cutting-edge of product and process development. 

For pioneering businesses, this means they have a deep tech innovation partner that can help them to scale-up their ideas across sectors such as energy, medical tech, pharma or materials. A fantastic asset for our innovation district.

Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for transport, the built environment, cities and local growth, is another member of the Catapult Network, with a home in KQ Liverpool, this time at Sciontec AI in The Spine. 

Connected Places Catapult is working actively in Liverpool with a key focus on sustainability in the maritime sector, having published a study on the Liverpool to Belfast green shipping corridor. As part of this, the team has been looking at ‘ports as energy hubs’ with a focus on Liverpool and the Stanlow refinery. The team is also examining the opportunity for coastal shipping to take traffic off the roads in Liverpool with Bibby Marine, Peel Ports and other regional partners.

We were proud to work directly with CPC on our illustrated children’s book, The Animates: Learning in Liverpool. Written by local author Natalie Reeves-Billing, it was specially commissioned by KQ Liverpool, in partnership with Connected Places Catapult, and is part of a major focus on inspiring and training the next generation of innovators, by helping young people to understand the many innovative careers that exist in their home city.

It follows the adventures of six animal inventors who crash-land in KQ Liverpool and must search for the innovations needed to repair their ship. With support from CPC and other partners, we then delivered more than 5,000 copies, reaching every Liverpool City Region primary school, thanks to Innovation Zone funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The Catapults in our innovation district also offer hubs, laboratories, testbeds, factories, and offices, each powered by experts who bring innovators together to prove and adopt breakthrough high-quality products, services, and technologies. 

Kris Wadrop, Managing Director – Materials, at CPI says:

“Facilitated work space alongside universities, as that offered by Sciontec in the Knowledge Quarter, is essential within the Academic-Catapult-Industry ecosystem to allow people to collaborate, see each other on a daily basis, build trust and create lasting working relationships. 

“Enabling the Catapults to share space with the academic institutions allows unparalleled access to transfer knowledge and build partnerships. The facilities within KQ Liverpool also allow a cost-effective regional presence to be established, enabling HVM Catapult to support the innovation ambitions of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, ensuring the capabilities and priorities within the region are exemplified and delivered. ”

Recent data shared by Innovate UK shows 80% of businesses that have worked with at least one Catapult say that their innovative projects would not have happened, or not have happened at the same speed, without Catapult involvement. The same number said that Catapults helped to improve the quality of their products and services.

Meanwhile, according to 90% of the businesses surveyed, Catapults also play a significant role in helping innovative businesses form partnerships, crucial for the success of innovative projects, enabling the pooling of expertise, resources, shared risks, market access, and accelerated development.

In turn, this means businesses working with Catapults are more likely to get a product or project to market, with the same findings showing that turnover of small and micro businesses working with Catapults rose by 27% when compared with other similar businesses, rising to a huge 50% increase after six years.

There can be little doubt that the multiplier effect of Catapults can have a significant medium-to-long-term impact on businesses prepared to invest in R&D, supported by a unique combination of facilities and expertise.

If the Liverpool City Region is to further secure its place as a global destination for innovation, international businesses need to see the UK innovation landscape as the perfect place to push their innovations forward. Catapults will continue to play an incredibly important role in those ambitions.

LCR in a Day – Our Chosen Charities

/in /by

As our chief executive Colin Sinclair prepares to run the entire Liverpool City Region in a single day on September 5, we take a look at the charities who are set to benefit from his fundraising efforts.

KQ Liverpool has selected six charities, one from each borough, all of whom share its commitment to supporting young people in the Liverpool City Region. You can read more about each of them below:

Home-Start Knowsley

Established in 1999, Home-Start Knowsley is an independent, early-intervention charity that supports local families with at least one child under the age of eleven. It offers peer-led early help in the home to prevent crisis, build family resilience and ensure that every parent has the support they need so their children have the best start in life, including a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment to thrive in, reducing the risk of Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Ykids

Ykids works to improve the lives and futures of children, young people and their families living in some of the UK’s most deprived areas. While its heart and soul are in its local community of Bootle, it actively works across the Liverpool City Region; providing innovative mentoring programmes, school and literacy projects, sports and arts initiatives, large community events, parent groups and support, a community pantry and ten weekly clubs ranging from theatre and the arts, to life skills and sport.

Stick ‘n’ Step

Stick ‘n’ Step is a charity that enables, inspires and supports children with cerebral palsy and their families. It supports children and young people with cerebral palsy up to the age of 25 through the provision of free weekly conductive education sessions, delivered by highly skilled professionals from specialist centres in Runcorn and Wallasey and designed to help each child reach their personal potential in terms of mobility, confidence, and independence.

Centre 56

Centre 56 is a domestic abuse charity in the heart of North Liverpool which puts children first. The organisation provides childcare, information and support for families and children who have suffered, or are at risk of domestic abuse or a crisis situation.  Its mission is to create a world where every family member feels safe and secure and where families have food on the table in warm homes, without the fear of violence.

St Helens Young Carers 

A Young Carer is someone aged 6 to 18 who provides regular or ongoing care and emotional support towards a family member who is ill, disabled, has a mental health condition or misuses drugs or alcohol. They often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult. This charity believes every Young Carer should have the same opportunities as other children and young people of a similar age.

Claire House Children’s Hospice

Claire House Children’s Hospice in Bebington helps seriously and terminally ill children live life to the full by creating wonderful experiences and bringing back a sense of normality to family life. By providing specialist nursing and end of life care, as well as emotional support, its team of trained, passionate professionals helps families through some of the toughest times of their lives.

We are proud to be able to support these six incredible charities. If you would like to make a donation, please visit: www.givewheel.com/fundraising/8844/lcr-in-a-day.