Growing business

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority enables businesses in West Yorkshire to grow, creating jobs for local people, encouraging businesses to locate here and helping our economy to thrive.

Programme overview

Supporting local small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to find the funding and expertise they need to grow and expand, from our network of partners.

We also attract new investment and jobs by helping companies looking to take advantage of the enormous investment opportunities in our region to locate here.

Business growth is a key component of the Strategic Economic Framework that the Combined Authority are working on to deliver a strong, vibrant economy in West Yorkshire.

Projects within this programme

Browse the different projects within this programme by opening and closing the tabs below.

Business West Yorkshire

Project overview

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Strategic Economic Framework Investment Priority 1 is supported by the scheme which is designed to boost productivity by helping businesses grow and invest in the region and their workforce, driving economic growth, increasing innovation, and creating jobs.

The scheme will help to achieve the Mayoral Pledge to “support local businesses and be a champion for our regional economy”.
The programme is a central component of delivering Investment Priority 1 of the West Yorkshire Investment Strategy in relation to Good Jobs and Resilient Businesses and will add value to the delivery of economic recovery in West Yorkshire by supporting businesses to:

  • Create new jobs
  • Invest in growth and innovation through the adoption of new and proven technology
  • Promote good work as a positive way to improve productivity
  • Increase resilience
  • Make supply chains more resilient
  • Increase digital and innovation driven entrepreneurialism

 

Project Lead West Yorkshire Combined Authority
District/ Area West Yorkshire
Business case summary Read the full document
Funding

Gainshare - £4.573m
Local Authority match - £0.725m

Project Status Activity 6: Delivery
Start and end dates April 2023- March 2026
Delivery partners West Yorkshire Local Authorities 
Other funders None
Get in touch businesssupport@the-lep.com
Connecting Innovation

Project overview

Connecting Innovation follows on from the successful Access Innovation scheme in West Yorkshire. It builds upon the successes and challenges of Access Innovation by proposing a dedicated and specialist innovation support and brokerage service that coordinates, simplifies, promotes and communicates the innovation landscape to small-medium enterprises in the region.

The Connecting Innovation programme is an independent and specialist innovation service and is one way for businesses to navigate what innovation support is available.

Connecting Innovation provides SMEs with up to 12 hours of support with an Innovation Growth Manager, helping to:

  • Implement innovative practices or processes into your business
  • Access specialist expertise from the network of universities, catapult centres (not-for-profit, independent technology and innovation centres), research organisations, advisory services and private sector organisations
  • Provide ongoing one-to-one support to help make your project a success, through to implementation
  • Access funding or grants to support projects, including:
    • Advice about local, regional or national innovation grants

For more information about innovation support for your business visit our Business and Skills website.

 

Project Lead West Yorkshire Combined Authority
District/ Area West Yorkshire
Business case summary Read the full document
Funding

- Local Growth Fund- £750,961
- ERDF- £2.028 million
- Match funding- £1.227 million

Project Status Activity 6: Delivery
Start and end dates April 2020- June 2023
Delivery partners None
Other funders None
Get in touch ConnectingInnovation@the-lep.com
Connecting Innovation
Summative Assessment Report
View here
Healthtech

Project overview

West Yorkshire has all the vital components to be an engine of health ideas and innovation that can drive levelling up; not just for the region’s economy, but for the nation’s health. It is able to contribute significantly to the post COVID economic and health recovery.


The West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership 5 year plan has already identified this critical opportunity. ‘Better health and wellbeing for everyone’ highlights the transformative opportunities that healthtech and innovation can bring across health provision to deliver a healthier economy.


Our region has a unique healthtech innovation ecosystem with its strengths across medtech, digital and data – and connectivity across and between these strengths – and is leading the way with the translation of research into commercialisation.


The region has been recognised by central government as a high potential opportunity area for woundcare, regenerative tissue, AI and data analytics. However we are not currently seen as the leading Healthtech cluster nationally, due to the fragmented nature of the system and the lack of adoption of products and services into practice. This means our region does not currently reach its full potential for residents and businesses.


There are other well-known health and innovation clusters across the country. However, none boast the level of assets that we possess in West Yorkshire – assets across industry and academia, plus unique strengths within our public sector infrastructure. The Opportunity section of this strategy focuses on these assets, demonstrating the prime opportunity for West Yorkshire and the City Region to become the leading healthtech cluster nationally and to partner, where appropriate, with other healthtech clusters across the UK and globally.


We must act now to capitalise on these strengths, the market opportunity and to deliver the health and wellbeing outcomes needed post COVID. In 2019, the global healthtech market was worth an estimated $175 (US bn), expected to rise to $660 billion by 2025. Even before COVID, which sharply increased the need for digital health tools to be used, adoption has been steadily increasing.


The healthtech sector faces significant challenges post COVID and the City Region with its dominance of micro businesses and SMEs is no exception. To achieve the full potential of this market, collaboration between the NHS, industry, universities, the third sector and government requires a unified approach. Only through collaboration and connection will we overcome barriers to healthtech innovation, translation and adoption.


Driving excellence in science and innovation will play a key part in addressing the West Yorkshire productivity gap, and the challenges that underpin this.

Huddersfield Incubation & Innovation Programme

Project overview

In partnership with the LEP, we have invested £2.9 million of Leeds City Region Growth Deal funding into the Huddersfield Incubation & Innovation Programme at the University of Huddersfield.

Located at the university’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre, this project aims to boost innovation among local SMEs and entrepreneurs by providing better access to specialist support, communal working areas and state-of-the-art technologies, including a 3D printer, x-ray machines and ‘visualisation zones’.

 

Project Lead University of Huddersfield
District/ Area Kirklees
Business case summary Read the full document
Funding

Leeds City Region Growth Deal (£2.9 million)

Project Status Activity 6: delivery
Start and end dates 2016 - 2018
Delivery partners University of Huddersfield
Other funders None
Get in touch 3mbic.com
Leeds University Innovation Centre (NEXUS)

Project overview

£3 million of Leeds City Region Growth Deal funding is being invested into the NEXUS innovation centre at the University of Leeds to help expand business innovation and ‘incubation’ space in the city.

Our investment, part of a total £40 million project, will help businesses more easily access the university’s world-class research expertise and also increase the amount of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ lab space for businesses looking to innovate.

More than 500 businesses are expected to benefit from NEXUS over the next few years.

 

Project Lead University of Leeds
District/ Area Leeds
Business case summary N/A
Funding

Leeds City Region Growth Deal (£3 million)

Project Status Activity 6: delivery
Start and end dates Due to complete February 2019
Delivery partners West Yorkshire Combined Authority and University of Leeds
Other funders University of Leeds (£37 million)
Get in touch https://nexusleeds.co.uk/contact-us/
West Yorkshire Innovation Support Programme

Project overview

The service has been developed in partnership with the West Yorkshire Innovation Network to complement existing innovation and business support in the region. The approach builds on learning from previous regional innovation support programmes, including Access Innovation and Connecting Innovation.

Innovation through creating, improving or utilising new products, processes, or services is well evidenced as being central to improving productivity, economic growth and prosperity. In West Yorkshire however, we have low levels of innovation activity evidenced by a) low levels of business R&D investment, b) low levels of engagement between SMEs and Higher Education institutions to drive knowledge transfer and c) low levels of applications to UK innovation funding competitions and regional grant funds.

There is a wealth of innovation support already available in the region. However, businesses (particularly SMEs)  lack the time available to navigate innovation support and understand what is available to them and how to access it. This programme is designed to help those businesses
understand and take full advantage of the support available. The programme also provides some targeted innovation funding for those areas where the challenge is more acute. This includes SME innovation vouchers and addressing wider issues such as the net zero and Mayoral Innovation Prize. As set out previously, the challenge in West Yorkshire is increasing the appetite for
innovation by industry and therefore increasing engagement levels with innovation support.

 

Project Lead West Yorkshire Combined Authority
District/ Area West Yorkshire
Business case summary Read the full document
Funding

Gainshare - £5.550m
SME match - £1.384m

Project Status Activity 6: Delivery
Start and end dates April 2023- March 2026
Delivery partners None
Other funders None
Get in touch ConnectingInnovation@the-lep.com

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