The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee (DSIT) recently chose Liverpool as their first official visit to find out how the region’s UK-leading approach to innovation is maximising its world-leading strengths and driving economic growth.

Chaired by Chi Onwurah MP, the Committee visited key assets at Knowledge Quarter Liverpool, including a number of the founding partners of The Pandemic Institute. The tour included the Materials Innovation Factory at the University of Liverpool, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine with its flagship national Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON) programme.

The Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, Chi Onwurah MP, said:

“The Committee was delighted to visit Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter today and see some of the ground-breaking science and technology developments it houses. Not only this, but the KQ is a great example of how innovation can boost regional economic growth and benefit local communities.

“Today, we’ve also launched an inquiry to explore how innovation investment can kickstart growth and prosperity in the UK’s regions. What we’ve heard today will feed into this and has reinforced the importance of ensuring that innovation helps communities across the country.”

As part of the visit, Director of The Pandemic Institute Professor Tom Solomon CBE was invited along to a discussion group highlighting the innovative work of the region:

“We were delighted to welcome the committee to Liverpool on their first official visit, and to discuss how devolved funding to Liverpool for research, innovation, and technology supports economic growth through strengthening The Pandemic Institute (and our planned Pandemic Preparedness and Response Facility) and other organisations.”

The tour was led by Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, who said:

“It’s a great sign of confidence in the Liverpool City Region that the committee has chosen to visit us as part of its national fact-finding mission. Our region is a powerful example of how innovation, driven by collaboration between businesses, universities and public sector partners, can unlock growth and deliver lasting benefits for local communities. We’ll continue to invest in cutting-edge research and development, ensuring that we’re enhancing our world-class innovation assets but also creating thousands of high-quality jobs and driving the UK’s future prosperity.” 

The cross-party committee’s role is to ensure policy and decision making at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is guided by scientific evidence.

It will use its fact-finding mission to inform a Parliamentary inquiry into the UK innovation landscape to identify how the Government could improve regulation, investment and funding.