Location: Stage 4
-
Wed, 1 Jul 2026
·
10:00 – 10:30
(Europe/London)
(30 minutes)
Beyond the Rhetoric: Driving Cross-Regional Action and Industry-University Synergy across the Northern Arc
True economic acceleration cannot be achieved through hyper-local isolation or vague pledges of collaboration. It requires friction-free alignment across borders and a relentless focus on turning academic research into industrial scale. Competing directly with the main stage welcome session, this open-floor fireside chat marks the formal introduction of Northern Arc Partners and strips away the standard corporate rhetoric.
In partnership with Brabners and their True North network, this session addresses a critical economic challenge: how to move beyond regional competition and build active, cross-regional frameworks that connect Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire into a single, globally competitive innovation corridor. Moving beyond high-level talk, this session maps out the concrete mechanisms required to synchronise industry demand with university research pipelines, dismantle the barriers holding back spin-out commercialisation, and establish a unified pan-regional ecosystem that commands global investment.
Who Should Attend
- Founders, Spin-Outs, & Tech Leaders: Looking to navigate the pan-regional ecosystem, access sector-specific scale-up spaces, and leverage cross-regional networks.
- University Commercialisation Officers & Academics: Seeking to bridge the gap between breakthrough research and market-ready industrial application.
- Corporate Innovation & Industry Executives: Wanting to plug directly into a unified pipeline of northern talent, deep-tech research, and advanced facilities.
- Ecosystem Enablers & Strategic Partners: Looking to move past localised silos and participate in cross-border innovation clusters.
Why It's Relevant
For too long, the North’s economic hubs have operated as disparate clusters, occasionally competing for the same pots of capital and talent rather than leveraging their collective weight. While the region boasts world-class research excellence and distinct industrial assets, from advanced materials and life sciences to nuclear supply chains, the connection between university laboratories and commercial industry remains siloed.
This session is critical because it directly addresses the fragmentation that is holding the corridor back. By shifting the focus from high-level sentiment to practical execution, it outlines how the True North partnership is actively creating cross-regional pathways for growth. This is about building the physical and digital infrastructure that allows a startup spinning out of a university in West Yorkshire to seamlessly scale production in Lancashire, secure funding via Manchester syndicates, and access specialised testing facilities in the Liverpool City Region. For anyone focused on building a resilient, self-sustaining innovation economy, this session provides the blueprint for true, boundary-less collaboration.
What You Will Get From It
- The Pan-Regional Framework: Gain a clear understanding of how Northern Arc Partners and the True North network are connecting distinct innovation clusters into a unified commercial corridor.
- The Industry-University Playbook: Discover concrete models for accelerating university spin-out commercialisation and embedding industry demand directly into academic research pipelines.
- Actionable Collaboration Models: Learn how to look beyond immediate geographic boundaries to access specialised facilities, talent pools, and funding networks across the entire corridor.
- Direct Ecosystem Engagement: Understand how to actively participate in upcoming True North initiatives designed to drive physical regeneration, close the skills gap, and unlock growth capital.
Partners & Exhibitors
Headline Partner
Event Partner
Tour Partner
Award Partner
Woman In Business Partner
Exhibitor
