A new place-based business innovation initiative has enabled leaders to create a solution to help Lancashire’s manufacturing community solve the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities posed by the net carbon zero agenda and cyber security threats.

The Challenges and Opportunities

As the birthplace of the First Industrial Revolution, Lancashire has a long heritage of manufacturing capability.

Today there are 87,000 people working in the industry, across aerospace, food and beverage, as well as plastics, chemicals and automotive.

As home to one of the UK’s key aerospace clusters, with 31 of the UK’s 56 biggest companies in the sector as well as dozens of supply chain companies, Lancashire’s technical knowhow has supported the case AMRC North West, a £20m gateway development on the Samlesbury Aerospace Enterprise Zone enabling the region’s manufacturing community access to advanced technologies.

Lancashire is also a key player in the emerging North West Cyber Corridor, an internationally leading world class, cyber innovation ecosystem, including the Cybersecurity Research Centre at Lancaster University, stretching from Manchester to Lancaster via Samlesbury. Furthermore, the government plans to establish its new National Cyber Force (NCF) in the region to combat the growing number of cyber threats to UK industries, including manufacturing which has become the biggest target.

Meanwhile, Lancashire’s strength in manufacturing and engineering provides the technical innovation and design expertise needed to support the county’s diverse concentration of low carbon energy assets including nuclear, wind, marine and battery technologies.

The abundance of 5,200 businesses operating in the sector, employing 40,000 workers, has supported investments including RedCAT (the Lancashire Centre for Alternative Technologies), the AMRC Low Carbon Demonstrator, as well as Eco I-North West, a £14m R&D project supporting SMEs to create new, low-carbon products, processes and services. The county’s assets have also contributed to a commitment by Government to develop a North West low carbon industrial cluster by 2030

Together, the technological capability and innovation assets of the manufacturing and energy sectors present huge potential to contribute to the Government’s Net Zero and levelling up ambitions.

It is within this context that Lancaster University partnered with Lancashire County Council to design and deliver an Innovation Catalyst to bring together influential and ambitious business leaders, academia and like-minded peers to address this multitude of challenges and opportunities posed by the net carbon zero agenda and cyber security threats and develop effective long-term solutions to create prosperity across the region.

The Process

The Catalyst, a project supported through the UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund, created a taskforce of businesses within the manufacturing and engineering sectors, such as BAE Systems and PDS, industry experts such as the AMRC, the North West Business Leadership Team and Lancashire LEP, as well as academics including Lancaster University, Blackburn College and Burnley College.

The four-month programme began with an activation process to collectively map out the goals, challenges, and innovation needs.

Andrea Wallace, Business Support Manager at Lancaster City Council, was involved in the Catalyst because of her experience with economic development across the county.

She said: “We started with a blank page and explored what we have, what’s missing, how we collaborate, how we will fill in the gaps, and how we coordinate.

“What we realised is that Lancashire lacks a unifying identity, which means we are not very good at promoting the county in terms of the ‘things’ we make and the ‘people’ we produce.

“Our business support provision is pepper-potted across Lancashire and can be confusing to the end user, our pockets of best practice aren’t shared, and the same is applied to skills provision. It’s a disjointed approach.”

The group then embarked on a series of investigative and action-focused ‘Innovation Collaboratories’ focussed on three key areas: skills, sustainability and net zero, and secure data and digitalisation.

Facilitated by Lancaster University, these gave participants the opportunity to exchange knowledge, share expertise and resources to accelerate solutions.

Then came the Innovation Accelerator stage which enabled the group to test and learn from their ideas with the support of an Engagement Fellow, students from Lancaster University.

The next step for the Catalyst is a symposium, enabling the taskforce to reflect on their journey and ensure that action is planned to continue to tackle the challenges outside of the Catalyst.

The Outcome and Future

There are two major outcomes to emerge from the catalyst, the need to understand exactly what is needed by manufacturing and engineering businesses, and then the creation of a Hub to provide it.

The first step for the Catalyst is to engage in a major diagnostic of the manufacturing landscape in Lancashire, focussed on the digitalisation, cybersecurity, and skills.

Andrea said: “By asking businesses what they need, by being inclusive, we will be able to deliver more impact with provision and support for skills, sustainability, and digital innovation. Lancaster University is perfectly placed for this level of research given its academic expertise, resources, and long-established network.”

The Hub would then aim to establish Lancashire as a centre of excellence for digital development and integration.

It would provide business support, guidance and navigation for Lancashire’s manufacturing and engineering sector, business networking and collaboration opportunities, digital skills and training provision, a digital development environment to test and evaluate ideas, demonstrator space for guest speakers to talk about the regional, national, and international opportunities.

Underpinning the Hub would be a brand for Lancashire’s manufacturing and engineering sector to unify behind and the creation of a regional quality standard for businesses to aspire to achieve.

The central Hub, whether delivered from one location or several, would aim to establish a culture of collaboration within the existing business support provision, develop a skills provision that retains and attracts talent, and influence regional and national policy.

Andrea “Our vision for Lancashire is a cooperative manufacturing business support landscape capable of engaging with businesses of all shapes and sizes across the county, to accelerate technology, adoption and skills development with a view to becoming part of the ecosystem for projects like the cyber corridor and low carbon cluster.

“The Innovation Catalyst has been a fantastic process. We have accelerated the discussion and determined the need to progress our potential solutions, bringing together an array of leaders from the county to delve into our common challenges and propose what could be a game-changing approach to how Lancashire’s manufacturing and engineering sector collaborates to lead the next Industrial Revolution, just as we led the First.”

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