The N8 Research Partnership responded to the Government’s invitation for views on Northern Growth on 31 July 2026.
Research and innovation should be treated as part of the North’s core growth infrastructure. The North’s research-intensive universities are not simply stakeholders in the Northern Growth Strategy: they are essential delivery partners, providing the research capability, talent, specialist facilities, commercialisation expertise, industrial relationships and institutional leadership needed to turn ambition into growth.
The economic opportunity is not only to strengthen individual places and clusters, but to connect complementary capabilities across city regions and industrial geographies, creating the scale and coherence needed to attract investment and deliver in areas of national significance. As the partnership of the North’s eight research-intensive universities, N8 provides collaborative infrastructure through which universities can work with strategic authorities, industry, investors, further education, the NHS and other partners where collective action adds value beyond any single institution or place.
N8 universities generated £18.8 billion in UK economic impact in 2021–22, including £10.3 billion associated with research and knowledge exchange. This collective scale, combined with deep roots in Northern places and extensive national and international partnerships, gives N8 a distinctive role in helping Government convert research excellence into investable propositions, business growth, high-value jobs and stronger public services. [1]
The creation of No. 10 North and the closer alignment of business, innovation, science and trade within Government create an important opportunity to make research and innovation more central to devolution and economic growth. N8 stands ready to work as a constructive delivery partner with No. 10 North, relevant departments, UKRI, strategic authorities and industry. The next phase of the Strategy should establish practical mechanisms for that partnership, including routes for collaboration across strategic authority boundaries and support to develop credible, investment-ready propositions.
N8’s key messages are supported by more detailed responses below.
1. What should the priorities for government and its partners be, through the wider Northern Growth Strategy, to make sure the economic benefits of improved rail and wider transport connectivity are fully realised and delivered?
Transport should be planned as infrastructure for innovation, talent and investment, not only as a means of moving people. Its full economic value will be realised when it connects the North’s research, industrial and civic assets and is matched by the collaborative mechanisms that allow those assets to work together. Read more
2. Other than viability gaps, what do you see as the main barriers to accelerating densification and development in the North? In what ways are they distinct from wider national challenges and how can they be tackled?
Development policy should recognise university-linked innovation infrastructure as a strategic asset and support mixed-use, innovation-led places around anchor institutions. The principal barriers are long investment horizons, fragmented returns, complex partnerships and insufficient alignment between development, transport and innovation policy. Read more
3. (a). What has your experience been of raising investment? For example, what sources of finance have you drawn on or would you wish to draw on, and what terms have been offered?
Northern research-led firms face discontinuity between funding stages, limited investor visibility, uneven access to networks and a shortage of patient growth capital. Universities can help build credible pipelines of investment-ready opportunities, but those pipelines need to connect more coherently to regional and national finance. Read more
3. (b). How can local and central government help connect companies seeking growth finance in the North with the investor community?
Government should reduce fragmentation and help Northern partners present investors with credible opportunities at sufficient scale. This requires coordinated pipelines, investable propositions and targeted public finance that reduces risk without weakening commercial discipline. Read more
4. What measures across skills, employment and health would see a greater workforce participation rate in your area, particularly for young people?
Increasing participation requires earlier, integrated action to prevent poor health and disadvantage becoming long-term inactivity, together with visible pathways into good jobs in Northern growth sectors. Universities can connect evidence, advanced skills and employer demand, but must work with further education, schools, the NHS, local government and employers. Read more
5. How can the impact of Northern cultural institutions be maximised to attract investment to the region and regenerate local communities in your area?
Northern cultural institutions should be treated as part of the region’s economic, innovation and civic infrastructure. Their impact is greatest when culture, universities, skills, creative businesses, transport and regeneration are connected within a coherent place strategy. Read more
6. Please provide any further views on Northern growth opportunities that you did not address through the survey.
The next phase of the Northern Growth Strategy should move from recognising Northern assets to organising them for delivery. This means making universities core delivery partners, enabling collaboration across strategic authority boundaries and converting complementary strengths into focused, investable propositions. N8 is well placed to partner on these ambitions by connecting research-intensive university capability across the North and helping Government and regional partners translate it into investment and delivery. Read more
1. What should the priorities for government and its partners be, through the wider Northern Growth Strategy, to make sure the economic benefits of improved rail and wider transport connectivity are fully realised and delivered?
Key Message: Transport should be planned as infrastructure for innovation, talent and investment, not only as a means of moving people. Its full economic value will be realised when it connects the North’s research, industrial and civic assets and is matched by the collaborative mechanisms that allow those assets to work together.
N8 supports Northern Powerhouse Rail and wider investment in Northern transport connectivity. Poor journey times, reliability and last-mile connections currently restrict access to specialist facilities, constrain labour markets and make sustained collaboration between Northern centres more difficult than their geographical proximity should allow. The Northern Growth Strategy should align transport investment with research and innovation infrastructure, housing, digital capacity, energy and skills planning. This reflects the finding of the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that infrastructure deficits constrain innovation and commercialisation, and the case made in the recent HEPI report ‘Interconnected Innovation’ for stronger alignment between transport and R&I policy. [2, 4]
Government and its partners should therefore:
- Prioritise reliable connections between major research, innovation and industrial assets across the North, including connections between city regions and onward links to towns, manufacturing clusters, innovation districts and shared facilities.
- Improve last-mile access between stations, universities, hospitals, further education colleges, business districts, innovation sites and surrounding communities, so that transport investment widens access to skills, facilities and employment.
- Incorporate research, innovation and talent impacts into the appraisal of major transport and regeneration schemes, including effects on facility access, collaboration, business formation, cluster development and private investment.
- Support the ‘soft’ or collaborative infrastructure that converts connectivity into economic outcomes, including shared-facility access, researcher and industry mobility, brokerage, common data and the development of cross-regional propositions. Such interventions should be outcome-focused and evaluated against investment, commercialisation, adoption and growth. [4]
N8 can help identify the connections that matter most to research-led growth and convene universities, businesses and places around opportunities that span transport and administrative boundaries.
2. Other than viability gaps, what do you see as the main barriers to accelerating densification and development in the North? In what ways are they distinct from wider national challenges and how can they be tackled?
Key Message: Development policy should recognise university-linked innovation infrastructure as a strategic asset and support mixed-use, innovation-led places around anchor institutions. The principal barriers are long investment horizons, fragmented returns, complex partnerships and insufficient alignment between development, transport and innovation policy.
Universities, hospitals, further education colleges, Catapults, cultural institutions and major businesses are place-shaping anchors. When laboratories, testing and demonstration facilities, start-up and scale-up space, housing, transport, public services and cultural amenities are planned together, they can create deeper innovation ecosystems, retain talent and attract private R&D and inward investment.
The Lloyds Banking Group ‘Innovation Foundations’ analysis identifies a £10–£20 billion UK shortfall in innovation-enabling infrastructure over the next decade. It finds that estate capacity is strongly associated with private R&D, commercial partnerships, start-ups and spin-out performance, and estimates that expanding capacity in the most constrained universities could increase annual private R&D activity by around 25%. Yet innovation infrastructure remains underprovided because it is a long-duration asset, benefits are distributed across multiple organisations and places, and no single investor captures the full economic return. [9]
The Northern Growth Strategy should therefore:
- Recognise laboratories, research facilities, science parks, innovation districts, demonstrators, incubators and accelerator space as core economic infrastructure alongside transport, housing, digital and energy assets.
- Create a pipeline of university-linked, place-based projects that are sufficiently mature and coherent to attract long-term capital, with clear sector focus, delivery partnerships, demand evidence and routes to commercial use.
- Develop financing approaches suited to long-lived assets and distributed returns, including blended finance, public-private co-investment, catalytic public funding and place-based investment vehicles. [9]
- Align the Northern Growth Strategy with UKRI’s refreshed Infrastructure Roadmap so that Northern gaps in translational and commercialisation infrastructure inform national investment decisions. [2, 3]
The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and wider innovation ecosystem in Rotherham demonstrate what this can achieve. Long-term investment in research infrastructure, industrial partnerships and skills has helped transform a former industrial site into a nationally significant advanced manufacturing location. The new COMPASS facility provides a current example of co-investment by Government, the strategic authority, industry and the university to create nationally significant research and development capability. Together, these investments have attracted businesses, created high-value employment and supported wider regeneration. [10, 15]
3(a). What has your experience been of raising investment? For example, what sources of finance have you drawn on or would you wish to draw on, and what terms have been offered?
Key Message: Northern research-led firms face discontinuity between funding stages, limited investor visibility, uneven access to networks and a shortage of patient growth capital. Universities can help build credible pipelines of investment-ready opportunities, but those pipelines need to connect more coherently to regional and national finance.
N8 does not itself raise equity finance, but its member universities create and support spin-outs, research-intensive SMEs and scale-up firms and work with public and private investors across the North. These businesses commonly draw on university proof-of-concept support, public innovation funding, angel and seed investment, regional funds and venture capital. The transition from research to proof of concept, from seed to Series A, and from early growth to later-stage scale remains fragmented and difficult to navigate. [5]
Geography compounds these barriers. Investment decisions depend on relationships, repeated engagement and confidence in the wider ecosystem around a company. Northern opportunities can receive less attention where investor networks are thinner, travel is less convenient and businesses are presented individually rather than as part of a visible pipeline or sector proposition. [4]
We welcome national measures intended to create more continuity, including UKRI proof-of-concept funding, venture-building support, Innovate UK’s account-management offer and closer links with the British Business Bank and National Wealth Fund. The priority is to ensure these initiatives connect effectively with Northern university pipelines, clusters, strategic authorities and specialist funds. [3]
Northern Gritstone, Northern Accelerator and the British Business Bank’s place-based activity show that research-led businesses can attract capital when specialist expertise, credible pipelines and locally rooted investor relationships are in place. Long-term strategic partnerships, such as the University of Liverpool’s relationship with Unilever, also demonstrate how sustained access to research capability, talent and infrastructure can secure private R&D and commercial investment. [11]
3(b). How can local and central government help connect companies seeking growth finance in the North with the investor community?
Key Message: Government should reduce fragmentation and help Northern partners present investors with credible opportunities at sufficient scale. This requires coordinated pipelines, investable propositions and targeted public finance that reduces risk without weakening commercial discipline.
We recommend that local and central government:
- Develop coordinated, sector-focused Northern investment pipelines that connect university commercialisation activity, mayoral strategies, accelerators, Catapults, regional funds and industry. The aim should be curation and investor access, not another generic portal or standalone institution.
- Use research-intensive universities as part of a connected gateway into Northern opportunities. Their specialist facilities, technical expertise, talent pipelines and industrial relationships can help identify credible businesses, strengthen investment readiness and provide continuing support after investment.
- Support the packaging of investable propositions around ecosystems and infrastructure, not only individual companies. Investors are more likely to commit where they can see a combination of research strength, suitable space, skilled people, supply chains, customers and a credible delivery partnership.
- Use the British Business Bank, National Wealth Fund and other public finance institutions to crowd in private capital through co-investment, guarantees and other appropriate risk-sharing approaches, while maintaining rigorous commercial appraisal.
- Accelerate pension fund and institutional investment by developing opportunities with the scale, governance, long-term revenue model and risk allocation required by those investors. The focus should be on making opportunities investable rather than simply urging institutions to accept more risk.
- Reward collaboration between strategic authority areas where supply chains, research capabilities, facilities and markets operate at a wider Northern scale. Place-based funding should remain locally led but should not make cross-boundary propositions structurally harder to develop.
The Leeds Innovation Partnership illustrates the value of bringing universities, the NHS, local government, business and investors together around shared innovation priorities. The principle should be applied flexibly across the North, with delivery models suited to different places rather than an attempt to replicate a single city’s development model. [12]
4. What measures across skills, employment and health would see a greater workforce participation rate in your area, particularly for young people?
Key Message: Increasing participation requires earlier, integrated action to prevent poor health and disadvantage becoming long-term inactivity, together with visible pathways into good jobs in Northern growth sectors. Universities can connect evidence, advanced skills and employer demand, but must work with further education, schools, the NHS, local government and employers.
The Get Britain Working White Paper highlights high levels of economic inactivity associated with long-term sickness and the number of young people not in education, employment or training. In the North, these issues are closely linked to health inequalities, SEND, school attendance, transport, caring responsibilities and uneven access to opportunity. [6]
The Northern Growth Strategy should:
- Use connected data and cross-sector partnerships to identify need earlier and coordinate support around children and young people at risk of later disengagement. Evidence from N8’s Child of the North programme on SEND, attendance, mental health and connected data supports earlier identification, integrated services and evaluation against long-term education, health and employment outcomes. [7]
- Create employer-designed pathways into Northern growth sectors, spanning apprenticeships and technical education, degree and higher apprenticeships, placements, conversion programmes, continuing professional development, postgraduate training and doctoral skills.
- Connect universities and further education providers more systematically so that research and innovation investments generate skills opportunities at every relevant level, from technicians and manufacturing roles to advanced scientific, engineering and leadership capability.
- Address practical barriers to participation, including affordable and reliable transport, digital access, health support, careers advice and caring responsibilities, alongside the provision of training.
The AMRC model demonstrates the value of integrating research, industrial collaboration and skills. Its partnerships with employers and training providers create pathways into advanced manufacturing while strengthening the innovation capacity and supply chains of the wider region. [10]
5. How can the impact of Northern cultural institutions be maximised to attract investment to the region and regenerate local communities in your area?
Key Message: Northern cultural institutions should be treated as part of the region’s economic, innovation and civic infrastructure. Their impact is greatest when culture, universities, skills, creative businesses, transport and regeneration are connected within a coherent place strategy.
Cultural institutions help create distinctive and attractive places, retain skilled people, animate town and city centres and support the creative industries. The Creative Places Growth Fund provides an opportunity to connect cultural investment with wider economic and regeneration plans. [8]
Universities and cultural institutions can work together as long-term anchor partners: developing talent; undertaking research and innovation in the creative industries; supporting enterprise and digital adoption; extending public engagement; and opening routes into creative careers. Cultural assets should therefore be integrated into transport-led regeneration, skills provision, business support and innovation-district planning, rather than treated as isolated amenities.
Access and participation are also socially and economically important. Child of the North evidence shows how arts and creativity can support wellbeing, belonging and attainment, particularly for children and young people facing disadvantage. Maximising cultural impact therefore means combining investment and regeneration with broader access to opportunity. [7]
6. Please provide any further views on Northern growth opportunities that you did not address through the survey.
Key Message: The next phase of the Northern Growth Strategy should move from recognising Northern assets to organising them for delivery. This means making universities core delivery partners, enabling collaboration across strategic authority boundaries and converting complementary strengths into focused, investable propositions. N8 is well placed to partner on these ambitions by connecting research-intensive university capability across the North and helping Government and regional partners translate it into investment and delivery.
The North does not lack research excellence, industrial capability or ambitious places. The greater challenge is to connect these assets, make strategic choices and build the leadership, partnerships, project pipelines and delivery capability required to move from ideas to investment and adoption. N8 can contribute collaborative infrastructure: identifying complementary capabilities, convening the right coalitions, simplifying access to expertise and facilities, and helping partners develop propositions with clear outcomes, investment requirements and delivery models.
We highlight four priorities for the Government’s further update to the Northern Growth Strategy in the autumn:
- Make universities delivery partners in the Strategy
Establish practical routes through which No. 10 North, other government departments, UKRI and strategic authorities can engage universities in the design and delivery of growth interventions. Engagement should be based on relevant capability and delivery contribution, not limited to consultation after priorities have been determined. - Complement devolution with pan-Northern collaboration
Mayoral leadership should remain central, but funding and governance must allow places to collaborate where research strengths, facilities, industrial supply chains and markets cross boundaries. The autumn update should set out how No. 10 North, relevant departments, UKRI, the British Business Bank, the National Wealth Fund and strategic authorities will coordinate delivery and support joint propositions. - Build and back investable propositions
Government should support a disciplined pipeline of cross-boundary opportunities with clear national relevance, industrial demand, partners, delivery arrangements, investment requirements and measurable outcomes. N8’s emerging Northern nuclear growth proposition is one example of how research excellence can be connected to skills, technology translation, supply-chain growth and private investment. It is being developed as an offer for co-creation with Government, industry and regional partners, rather than as a conventional research funding bid. - Prioritise innovation throughput, diffusion and adoption
The Strategy should measure whether ideas move through the system towards customers, investment, productivity and public value. Universities, further education colleges, Catapults and business organisations should help SMEs and public services access demonstrators, facilities, technical expertise, skills and finance. Physical assets and funding programmes will have limited impact without the purposeful relationships, brokerage and leadership needed to convert them into outcomes.
N8 will use forthcoming roundtable discussions with Government and Northern partners to test these recommendations and develop practical propositions for the next phase of the Strategy.
Sources
[1] London Economics, The economic impact of the N8 Research Partnership, 2025. View source
[2] House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Flying Blind: Innovation, Growth and the Regions, 13 March 2026. View source
[3] HM Government, Flying Blind: Innovation, Growth and the Regions: Government Response, 16 June 2026. View source
[4] Sarah Chaytor and Geraint Rees, Interconnected Innovation: Physical connectivity as the missing ingredient in UK research and innovation policy, HEPI Report 202, 18 June 2026. View source
[5] N8 Research Partnership, written evidence to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee inquiry Innovation, Growth and the Regions. View source
[6] HM Government, Get Britain Working White Paper, 26 November 2024. View source
[7] N8 Research Partnership, Child of the North research and policy programme, including evidence on SEND, attendance, mental health, connected data and arts and creativity. View source
[8] HM Government, Creative Industries Sector Plan and Creative Places Growth Fund. View source
[9] Lloyds Banking Group, Innovation Foundations: The economic potential for financing the UK’s innovation infrastructure, 21 July 2026. View source
[10] Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Rotherham’s Economic Transformation: Productivity, Structural Change and the Advanced Manufacturing Economy, 11 June 2026. View source
[11] University of Liverpool, Unilever and the University of Liverpool: A world-class partnership in action, accessed 24 July 2026. View source
[12] N8 Research Partnership, Catalysing Regional Innovation, accessed 24 July 2026. View source
[13] HM Government, No10 North open for business as the Government’s new situation room for making Britain better, 23 July 2026. View source
[14] Cabinet Office, Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet, 22 July 2026. View source
[15] University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Landmark R&D facility to boost UK aircraft manufacturing, accessed July 2026. View source