Partner Article

Eco-innovation centre set to bolster North West

Scientists at Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool will lead a new global eco-innovation centre, which will foster developments in green technology and services.

The £9.8m Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (CGE), led by Lancaster University in partnership with the University of Liverpool, will also strengthen the region’s economy in key export markets.

It will provide research and development expertise to hundreds of the region’s companies which are working on solutions to environmental problems.

The virtual centre has been developed in partnership with Inventya Ltd at the Daresbury Science and Innovation campus and will receive £4.9m from the ERDF’s North West operational programme.

Working across businesses in sectors such as chemicals, environmental technologies, digital, and high value manufacturing the centre will bring a number of new graduate jobs to the region, with posts used as the collaborative basis of a PhD programme.

The formal launch will come in spring, with the first cohort of 50 graduates to join in October for three years.

International focus in the centre means a portion of the graduates are anticipated to be recruited from overseas.

Dr Mark Bacon, faculty director for Business Partnerships and Enterprise in Science and Technology, and Dion Williams, head of Knowledge Exchange Support will lead the programme, and Dr Ruth Alcock of Lancaster University’s Environment Centre will manage.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .