Post by Ray Kent

Like every other policy wonk in the land, I’ve been pondering the possibilities from Andy Burnham’s speech in Manchester earlier today. On the theme of reindustrialising the UK, Mr Burnham called for “every region to set clear and credible industrial ambitions,” (aka a Local Growth Plan), encouraging “across-UK partnership between places with complementary industrial clusters” (think Humber Estuary and Tees Valley) and consolidating “public and private investment at a place-based level.” This is precisely what we are doing on the Humber and Tees - developing a joint innovation programme to accelerate the UK’s transition to clean energy along the East Coast and in the North Sea. In the light of Mr Burnham’s speech and with government announcements on hydrogen (HAR3) and offshore wind (AR8) due in 2026, this collaboration appears prescient. Supported by up to £30 million from UK Research and Innovation through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF), our programme is unique amongst the 17 LIPF projects in being an across-UK collaboration. Thus, our consortium includes two anchor institutions (University of Hull and Teesside University) working as part of a triple helix with industry (e.g., Humber Energy Board), Mayoral Strategic Authorities (Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority, Tees Valley Combined Authority), local authorities, and Freeports (Humber Freeport, Tees Valley Freeport). That’s some combination but we believe that with two of the country’s largest industrial clusters working together for the first time, there is the opportunity to make the UK the destination of choice for clean energy jobs and investment, boosting the economy by tens of billions of pounds by 2031. Images show local landmarks: (left) the University of Hull’s Venn Building; and (right) the Tees Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough.