December 2018

Director's Update

It’s been an exceptionally busy, but hugely rewarding end to 2019, one that has seen me take the N8 message nationwide. I’ve been raising awareness of the vital role the North of England’s world-class research and innovation can and should play in addressing the many economic and societal challenges that lie ahead.

During a two month tour of meetings, panel discussions and roundtable events, I had the opportunity and privilege to showcase N8’s role in driving the Northern Powerhouse forward, demonstrating how we can capitalise on the North’s powerful research potential to increase productivity and prosperity.

The campaign has helped to amplify N8’s message, forge new relationships and build towards our vision to broaden and deepen collaboration across the North.
Elsewhere, N8 research is helping to provide ground-breaking insight and direction when it comes to rebalancing the UK economy and improving future prosperity.

In November, a report commissioned by the Northern Health Science Alliance from six of our eight universities explored the relationship between the North’s poorer health and its poorer productivity. Not only did it find that tackling health inequalities between the North and South would put an extra £13.2bn into the economy, but  that it would also reduce the £4 gap in productivity per-person per-hour between the Northern Powerhouse and the rest of England by 30%.  What came through loud and clear from this important piece of research is that, as we bid to create a stronger UK economy post Brexit, addressing health inequalities is essential to bridging the productivity gap. 

The N8’s ability to create critical mass like this, enabling excellent research which can benefit the North of England and beyond and which allows us to better engage with other partners is vital to our continuing mission. And so as we enter 2019, we must have the confidence to advocate and be ambitious in the way we seek to approach the challenges of the Northern Powerhouse region, the UK and the world. And, as the Government continues to pursue its ambitious target of investing 2.4% of GDP into R&D by 2027, a date that draws ever closer, we need to ensure the Northern Powerhouse is recognised as a “go-to” innovation ecosystem that can help deliver this goal. 

Crucially, this means bringing the arts and humanities and the social sciences to the heart of research collaborations.  In the N8 Policing Research Partnership and N8 AgriFood we have two fantastic case studies of the benefits and impacts of working in true collaborative partnership across the research spectrum.  This is something we need much, much more of in the future: people-focused innovation and lasting impact.   

We’ve done much to move N8’s mission forward in 2019 and, certainly, in my first year in post I’ve seen many examples of outstanding research and innovation projects taking place across all disciplines in the N8 family – all achievements that we can shout about. I hope that 2019 will be an equally productive year, and a chance for us to form new relationships, strike up exciting collaborations, and share new ideas and best practice. The New Year is a time for new possibilities, so in the months ahead, I encourage you to talk to us about the challenges that really excite you so that we can find a way to address them together.