South Yorkshire Innovation Programme

Insider Media

Sue Hartley, vice president for research and innovation at The University of Sheffield, speaks to Fiona Haran of Yorkshire Business Insider on the university’s involvement in the South Yorkshire Innovation Programme - a new £3m consultancy for regional businesses backed by Sheffield universities, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Barnsley Council, designed to accelerate innovation and growth.

Transcript

00:00Well, we've always been passionate at the University of Sheffield to support regional

00:05economic growth through innovation. We really want to see our exciting research translated

00:10into things that make a real impact for the region. And so part of our resume is to support

00:17that area of work. And this is a really, really exciting programme to be involved in. So we

00:22think that it will help lead to some new exciting investments, some companies able to grow in

00:29the region and develop and meet their aspirations and ambitions. That's what we want to support

00:34them to do. Yeah, so what we've heard about a lot with our own spin-out companies, from

00:38the University for example, is that they really struggle to bridge that gap, to scale up to

00:43funding. So we want to get them in the best possible place. And I think some of the expertise

00:47that this programme is going to offer businesses will help them move along that journey quicker,

00:54so they're in a better position to attract the sort of external capital they need to

00:58really expand. I think the other thing that's really important in region is access to talented

01:04people and expertise. And again, the programme I think is really good at that. It can help

01:09grow their own talent and help them with the expertise that they need for various

01:13techniques and other things. So we're really keen to do that. And then the third thing that we've

01:18found that companies need is really good facilities and infrastructure and space. And that's something

01:24that the region and the city are very committed to doing. We've got lots of expansion plans

01:29in our innovation spine. I think it will really help businesses in the region as well.

01:32So it's all very exciting.

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