Liverpool’s Sensor City project has moved into Liverpool Science Park ahead of the opening of its official home at Copperas Hill in 2017.
Established hi-tech sensor businesses, start-ups and graduate entrepreneurs from across the region will be able to get access to leading experts and world-class research from the field of sensor technologies, and learn more about how they can benefit from Sensor City in the run up to the building’s opening in July 2017.
Billed as one of the world’s first sensor tech innovation centres, Sensor City will bring together knowledge and experience in sensor technology to become a leading hub. It will house, support and establish commercially viable businesses working on sensor systems and applications. It aims to create 300 start-up businesses and 1,000 jobs over a ten-year period, as well as fostering industry and academic collaborations. The project will also mark Liverpool as the leading British city for sensor technology, an ambition set out in Liverpool City Region’s growth strategy report recently.
With the global sensor market currently worth $490 billion and growing at over 10% each year, Sensor City presents an exciting opportunity for both Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the University of Liverpool plus SME businesses to work together and share knowledge in this cutting-edge sector.
Dr Joanne Phoenix will be leading the Sensor City team at Liverpool Science Park, creating and developing key activities and focusing on the offer to business in the region and beyond. She commented:
“Liverpool Science Park is the perfect, central location from which to establish Sensor City in advance of the launch of the building on Copperas Hill. It provides an ideal base where we can start building the profile of Sensor City and the breadth of activities which we hope to start.
“We’ll be working to bring suitable companies into the network and building those all-important relationships. It has been encouraging to see such high levels of engagement from the SME community and existing tenants within Liverpool Science Park with an interest in sensor technologies.
“I’m excited about the headway we’ve made so far and looking forward to making more connections with like-minded people who are all committed to bringing new important technologies to market.”
Professor Nigel Weatherill, Vice Chancellor of LJMU said:
“Establishing Sensor City at Liverpool Science Park as work progresses on site is the important next stage in what promises to be an extraordinary and significant project. This is the first major strategic collaboration between LJMU, the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LCR LEP), and as sensor technologies form a major part of the LCR LEP’s Innovation Plan, we hope this latest stage allows us to make further progress by working with local companies and entrepreneurs to help support them to compete on a global stage in this growing market.”
Progress is being made on the £15m bespoke building that will house Sensor City and sit beside the former Royal Mail sorting Office on Copperas Hill, which is also being redeveloped to become one of Liverpool’s biggest and best university buildings thanks to an investment of £100 million.
Sensor City was awarded University Enterprise Zone status and has been allocated £5 million from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, with a further £5m investment also from LJMU and UoL and industry. £5 million in capital investment funding from the England European Regional Development Fund has been secured under the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, which is designed to drive sustainable economic growth, support key city region growth sectors, the creation of new jobs and to unlock business success.