Help shape the West of England LIPF submission

The Local Innovation Partnership Fund (LIPF) was launched by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with the programme investing up to £500 million into the development and scaling of high-potential innovation clusters across the UK.

Aligned with the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy, the LIPF aims to: support regional strengths, accelerate research commercialisation, drive technology adoption, and help businesses scale, grow, and attract private investment. Ultimately, this funding seeks to drive economic growth, increase innovation capacity, develop high value jobs and create a stronger resilience and contribute to societal goals.

The West of England can compete for up to £20m funding over five years, to be matched at least 1:1 by identified private investment. This process is two stages:

• Expression of interest and eligibility assessment (deadline 12^th February)
• Co-development Project Portfolio with UKRI (from April if successful).

To support this process, WECA is convening a ‘triple helix’ LIPF Working Group bringing together civic institutions, universities and industry leaders to provide strategic oversight and inclusive decision-making. The membership of the LIPF Working Group include individuals from:

• Universities of Bristol, Bath, West of England and Bath Spa
• Business West
• Brunel Centre
• NCC
• The new West of England Business Board
• Industry representatives

The focus of the West of England LIPF submission are the innovation priority areas of Advanced Manufacturing and Digital and Technologies as set out in the West of England Regional Growth Strategy and echoing the Modern Industrial Strategy. Projects should drive the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, semiconductors, quantum, advanced telecoms or engineering biology, to accelerate innovation-led growth in the advanced manufacturing sector such as aerospace, space, advanced materials and defence.

This call is seeking project proposals to:

• strengthen the West of England’s EOI submission
• identify a pipeline of investable, delivery‑ready projects
• shape the future LIPF Project Portfolio

Projects submitted through this process should be ambitious and collaborative with the potential to deliver significant economic and innovation impact at scale. Applications are invited from organisations across the WECA region (Bristol City Council, Bath & North East Somerset; South Gloucestershire) and North Somerset who have a project that aligns with the aforementioned strategic innovation priority areas. This includes:

• Businesses with innovation-led growth potential at any scale
• Universities and research institutions with translational R&D capabilities and a track record of commercialisation and/or industry collaboration. Please note that this fund will not support fundamental or curiosity driven research.
• Civic institutions and anchor organisations with strategic roles in shaping local economic development, infrastructure or innovation governance

• Drive commercialisation, translational R&D, and innovation-led growth in line with the region’s position of one of the UK’s top innovation clusters.
• Activities can include:
  • research commercialisation
  • adoption and diffusion of new technologies
  • business growth/development initiatives
  • translational R&D
  • cluster development, networking and leadership
  • talent and skills development
  • R&D Infrastructure
  • knowledge exchange and R&I networking
  • seed corn funding
  • attracting overseas business and investment.

• Secure at least 1:1 private match private funding, rising to 1:2 or 1:3 by the end of the programme’s seven year reporting period
  • This private match should be cash or cashable- such as use of equipment or space- and not just in-kind contribution.
• Ready to start in the latter half of 2026 or beginning of 2027.
• Have a minimum total value of £1m, including match funding
• Proposals up to £20 million, including match funding, will be considered