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Crucial role For Liverpool’s knowledge economy

By Andrew Redfern @ 22nd August 2008 6:06 pm

Work commissioned by Urban Regeneration Company Liverpool Vision and its partners – the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Northwest Regional Development Agency, Liverpool City Council and BusinessLiverpool – reveals that the key organisations within the City’s Knowledge Quarter generate £1 billion in income per annum, leading the development of Liverpool’s knowledge economy.

The study, by Regeneris Consulting, identifies the future development of the Knowledge Quarter as a crucial driver of the City Region economy, and shows that the area currently supports over 14,000 full-time jobs, around 7% of the Liverpool total – in approx. just 1% of the city’s geographical area. Many are highly-skilled knowledge based jobs, the key driver for the development of modern cities.

A summary of the Regeneris report has been published as a ‘Prospectus for Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter’ to highlight the scale and potential of the City’s key knowledge assets.

The Prospectus calls for a clear Planning and Development Framework for the area to help create the conditions, which will encourage further growth and maximise value for the City.

The highlighted priorities for action include:

- Promoting the Knowledge Quarter nationally and internationally
- Ensuring opportunities for business incubation and knowledge transfer between the universities and the business community are maintained
- Building on the relationships between the Knowledge Quarter and the Hope Street Quarter to promote the distinctive environment and high quality cultural and leisure offer
- Improving key links with the city centre
- Encouraging concerted investment in under performing areas – Brownlow Hill, Mount Pleasant, Hardman Street/Myrtle Street and London Road.
- Improving existing routes within and between the Knowledge and Hope Street Quarters
- Making memorable places

The Report states: “The Knowledge Quarter plays a vital role in the economy of the North West and plugs Liverpool into global networks of innovation, intellectual creativity, technological invention and commercial exploitation.

“It offers a unique opportunity to advance the renewal of Liverpool and drive up its competitiveness. We believe the time is right to shift the focus towards our knowledge assets and to unlock the long-term wealth potential they hold.”

Liverpool Vision Chief Executive Jim Gill said: “The Knowledge Quarter contains a remarkable concentration of outstanding research, teaching, knowledge transfer and commercial assets”

“This Prospectus documents, for the first time, the quality and scale of those assets, and how important they are to the current and future economic performance of the City. It also provides a basis for interventions in both the Knowledge Campus and adjacent Hope Street Quarter, which will support continued growth”.

University of Liverpool Vice-Chancellor, Professor Drummond Bone, said: “The global reach of the University of Liverpool’s research and teaching is vast and the continuing development of the Knowledge Quarter will increase our economic impact overseas as well as in the UK. This is a period of unprecedented investment for the University in its 100-year history and for a modern European city such as Liverpool, the strategic importance of this growth cannot be overstated. ”

Prof. Michael Brown, Vice Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University said: “This is an important Report as it captures and quantifies the huge impact that the universities have on the economy and the well-being of the City. Most importantly the Report highlights the crucial role that the universities can have on the future economic growth of the City as the knowledge generated in the universities is commercialised.

“To accelerate this process, we need the environment and the facilities to attract the best staff and students to Liverpool, to exploit our knowledge commercially in Liverpool, and for our graduates to be able to stay in Liverpool to contribute to its future growth and prosperity.

“The universities cannot do this alone and will work in partnership with other important agencies to achieve success for the City. This Report makes the case for a co-ordinated investment strategy to secure the continued success of the universities, so central to the success of the City.”

Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the NWDA, said: “Developing the region’s knowledge economy is key to increasing regional economic growth and enabling the Northwest to compete at international level. These findings highlight Liverpool’s knowledge quarter as a significant asset for Merseyside and the Northwest on which we must continue to build.”

The city’s Knowledge Quarter is centred around the core university facilities of the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University in the east of the city centre, together with Liverpool John Moores University’s city campus to the north.

In addition to the universities, it includes institutions of international significance such as The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and The Royal Liverpool University Hospital and is further enhanced by Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool Community College and Liverpool Institute of performing Arts (LIPA)

http://www.businessliverpool.co.uk/

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