ESOF and the Northern Powerhouse

Normally when I talk about ‘the North’ I am referring to the activities we are up to in Scandinavia, or even referring to the high north – the vast areas of ocean, land and ice above the Arctic Circle, where we are active in promoting UK research excellence. However, today I want to turn my attention to another north – the UK’s Northern Powerhouse based in the North of England – and the fantastic research and innovation that takes place there.

If you haven’t heard of it before, the goal of the Northern Powerhouse is to enable the combined strength of the cities, universities and businesses in the North of England to compete with the very best in the world. Science and innovation is at the heart of this, with world leading universities and innovation clusters on offer.

In 2016 the City of Manchester, which forms a major part of the Northern Powerhouse, is the European City of Science. This 18-month long festival celebrates many aspects of science and its contribution to modern life, as well as reflecting on the remarkable achievements of the city in the last 200 years or so.

Being a Mancunian I should state my bias now (!), but can vividly remember learning in school about the industrial revolution, which largely kicked off on my doorstep, and the ingenuity of the city’s inventors and engineers, which powered the city towards new technological achievements and its subsequent riches – a timely reminder of the economic benefit of research and innovation. Later inventions such as the world’s first passenger railway, the splitting of the atom, the worlds first programmable computer and Dalton’s atomic theory all came out of the city too. You can read much more about the City of Science here

The most recent claim to fame is the isolation of graphene at Manchester University, a material set to revolutionise the world. This discovery won the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics, and we were delighted to help celebrate that achievement here in Stockholm where the prize was awarded.

Indeed, ‘From Cottonopolis to Graphene City’ is a major theme of the Year of Science, and also of the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) – a five-day long science conference and the highlight of the year which took place in July. Delegates from across Europe descended on Manchester to debate and discuss the latest advancements and discoveries in the sciences, humanities and social science fields. SIN Europe was in attendance, helping to promote the UK research base and collaborative opportunities.

Of course the city, and the region as a whole, do not just dwell on past achievements. There has been a tremendous amount of investment in research and innovation over the past years. Examples include the new Sir Henry Royce Institute for materials research, based at Manchester but with satellite centres in Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield amongst others, two nodes of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult based in Rotherham and also large investments in the research intensive universities in the North, working under the N8Research Partnership banner.

My goal, as with my colleagues across SIN Europe and elsewhere, is to connect these centres to the world, forming collaborative, productive partnerships leading to new products, treatments and services. If you are interested in learning more about the opportunities available in the Northern Powerhouse, then do get in touch with me or any of the team!