As Professor Dame Karen Holford prepares to stand down following her two-year tenure as Chair of the Midlands Innovation Board of Vice-Chancellors, she reflects on the impact of our partnership during that time.
When I look back on the last two years, there have been monumental shifts in our country, across our sector and beyond. Despite these seismic changes, as a partnership we have continued to push boundaries to deliver growth for our people, place and partnership. I deliberately use the word ‘growth’ and refer to it in all senses of the word.
In the last two years we have grown the opportunity for the Midlands and UK to attract more overseas investment into regional R&D. In difficult times geopolitically, as a small country we must pull together to provide an attractive and enticing offer, and punch above our weight. So I’m really proud that Midlands Innovation is leading the way with its Invest in UK Universities: Midlands Campaign. Involving 17 universities from across the Midlands, collectively we provide a compelling and comprehensive offer to investors. Overseas investment in R&D has been falling in the UK, and the majority of FDI historically goes into London and the Greater Southeast, so this campaign, which is backed by Government, will provide a blueprint for UK regions to be able to learn from.
Whilst Chair, I had the pleasure of speaking at the launch of the campaign’s Creative and Digital Sector prospectus (one of a number of sectors of the campaign where collectively we can offer a truly world-leading offer to investors). Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of AHRC and UKRI International Champion, and Professor Tom Crick, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, both spoke at the event, with Professor Smith noting that our investment prospectus “…brilliantly showcases the outstanding opportunity for international business and investors to come to the Midlands.” I also continue to Co-Chair the Advisory Board for the campaign.
It is now more important than ever for universities and key stakeholders within our region to pull together. As a partnership, we are celebrating 10 years of collaboration, which provides firm foundations for us and our regional partners to build upon, which is why I was thrilled that in their historic Compact to deliver change, the East Midlands and West Midlands Mayors made a firm commitment to work together and through Midlands Innovation and Midlands Mindforge in innovation led investment decisions.
In an age where the sector is under increasing financial pressure, demonstrating the opportunities to commercialise more research is not only a necessity – it’s essential in supporting the Government’s central mission to deliver growth across the country.
And we’re succeeding in that. As a partnership we have been awarded nearly 1/3 of a National fund for commercialising university research to deliver Forging Ahead. Led by Loughborough University and involving 15 universities across the region, Forging Ahead will transform innovation and entrepreneurship across the region. It builds on the foundations of Midlands Mindforge, a patient capital investment company established by MI partners in 2023 to attract more investment into university spinouts and early-stage science and tech businesses in the region. Mindforge is unique in being the only university-established investment vehicle involving eight research-intensive universities and to operate at a truly pan-regional scale in the UK.
This Summer our partnership and the UK’s technical community will celebrate the 10th birthday of the UK Higher Education Technician Summit (HETS). Long before there was national recognition of the vital role of technicians, who are critical to delivering research and teaching, MI partners championed their fundamental and integral role.
During my tenure, I had the honour of speaking at the launch of the TALENT Commission, where MI’s eight partner institutions became the first UK universities to commit to delivering all of the university employer recommendations of the commission.
TALENT was launched in 2020 to address the shortage of highly skilled technicians, strengthen UK capabilities to support academic excellence and drive economic growth. Five years later, technical professionals in the sector are more empowered and equipped, and more organisations are recognising and championing the critical role and contributions of technicians. Read more about the lasting impact of the programme here.
I also had the pleasure to speak at the conclusion of the MI TALENT programme. It was extremely touching to hear from technical professionals of the impact of TALENT on them not just in their careers, but also in their everyday lives. This really is a ground-breaking initiative which saw the largest investment in the career advancement of technicians, providing a blueprint for the sector to attract and retain more technical professionals, and establishing training and programmes that the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy is now continuing to deliver, such as the Herschel programme for women in technical leadership.
Building on the success and strength of the TALENT programme, the partnership has also established a Midlands wide Research Culture Network, and partners have collectively delivered MI’s first Open Research Week.
I could write much more about the successes of our partnership, there really are too many to mention. It has been a pleasure to lead the Board of Vice-Chancellors of the Midlands Innovation partnership over the last two years. I know the partnership, under the leadership of Dr Helen Turner and her team, and our next Board Chair will continue to not only build on the impact of our partnership, but also to continue to provide a platform for our people and place.
