A new hub that will link Liverpool city region firms with academics to make new innovations a reality has opened in the city’s Knowledge Quarter. Tony McDonough reports
A new hub that will bring together businesses, local Government and universities to drive new innovation and technologies has opened a base in Liverpool.
CPI, independent deep tech innovation organisation and a founding member of the Government’s £140m High Value Manufacturing Catapult, has taken space at Liverpool Science Park (LSP), operated by Sciontec, in the city’s Knowledge Quarter.
Founded in the North East of England in 2004, CPI is partnering with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and consumer products giant Unilever, to develop a £60m National Packaging Innovation Centre in Liverpool. Its new office will be its first in the North West.
Sophie Walton, director of strategic partnerships at CPI, said they were attracted to LSP due to its “vibrant cluster of science and technology-focused customers, as well as Liverpool City Region’s expertise in advanced manufacturing and sustainable packaging”.
She explained: “We are excited to move into our new offices at Liverpool Science Park and have already begun hosting key meetings and activities here. Our office will enable us to better connect to, and integrate with, the vibrant research and innovation ecosystem that we see growing rapidly in and around the city.
“Through local partnerships and collaborations, we will support the development of technologies that will have significant and far-reaching societal and economic impacts – both in Liverpool city region and beyond.”
Following its expansion to new premises in Liverpool, CPI is looking to collaborate and support the commercialisation of deep tech innovations that solve healthcare and sustainability challenges. It joins fellow catapult member, the Manufacturing Technology Centre, at LSP.
Philippa Lee, head of operations at LSP, said: “CPI is a fantastic addition to the LSP community. Their use of trailblazing science and technology to solve the biggest global challenges in healthcare and sustainability complements our other customers’ ground-breaking work.”
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CPI’s new base at LSP sits within the heart of the Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool) Innovation District and has been made possible thanks to £110,000 of pre-development funding from the Combined Authority.
Ms Walton added: “We already have a long-standing history of collaboration with the University of Liverpool, and as part of our strategy to accelerate our support within the region, we recently formalised this further by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
“This will see us continue to grow this key relationship across a wide and ambitious portfolio, in areas such as technology commercialisation, skills development, and economic growth.”