Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram hailed the Liverpool City Region as “undergoing a renaissance in science and innovation” at this year’s Business of Science Conference.
The one-day conference has been held in Manchester for the last two years but was this year moved to Liverpool’s Hilton Hotel to shine a light on the city region’s technology and innovation offering. Around 230 people attended, a 40 per cent rise on previous years.
Rotheram spoke of his “big vision” including the Sensor City innovation hub, the Mersey tidal energy project and a high-speed digital link. These will drive the city region’s technological transformation and form a compelling part of the local industrial strategy that will be put forward to government later this year.
“Our science and innovation assets are world class, and we understand skills and talent are needed to fuel this part of the city region economy,” he told the audience.
“We cannot stand by and let the apprenticeship levy go unspent, positions go unfilled and watch talent leave our wonderful universities for other cities when our science and innovation capabilities are globally competitive.”
BusinessCloud has joined forces with Progress to Excellence Group, which has been providing training and assessment for organisations of all shapes and sizes for more than 20 years, to look at how the Liverpool City Region can support the business sector’s skills needs.
Rotheram told another of our breakfast events last month that the region can become the UK’s “digital gateway for the fourth industrial revolution”.