City region businesses urged to embrace innovation with expert support from LJMU

Innovation and collaboration specialists at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) are offering up their expert solutions and technical support to Liverpool City Region based SMEs in a bid to boost competitiveness and productivity.

Throughout 2024, LJMU will offer practical, hands-on assistance as part of the Horizons project, designed to foster economic growth and innovation in the region and is backed by £3.7 million from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority as the lead authority.

Horizons will support over 100 local SMEs, bringing cutting-edge and industry-leading innovations to the six boroughs through collaborative support from experts at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at LJMU, the Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC) at the University of Liverpool and from the SME Productivity and Innovation Centre (SME PIC) at Edge Hill University.

The project supports SMEs in all sectors and industries, and through LJMU businesses will be able to access:

• A dedicated team who are experts in innovation and strategic management
• Knowledge from more than 250 research active staff specialising in a range of advanced technologies relevant to local business needs
• The right support at the right time focused on providing bespoke applied solutions, from business strategy to engineering, design, testing and prototype development
• World-class research facilities with state-of-the-art equipment, workshops and laboratories
• Education and skills development alongside technological solutions
• To collaborative student-led opportunities to improve your business and support industry-based learning for the next generation of experts

Anthony Walker, Strategic Manager at LJMU for Horizons, said: “The project aims to create better opportunities for people and communities across the boroughs and to support businesses to prosper, regardless of sector and ambitions, bringing them long-term success while creating a thriving, sustainable, resilient city region.

“Here at LJMU, we can look at challenges through the lens of an engineer and with our hands-on, practical support, provide relevant solutions for SMEs to realise their growth potential.

“We can de-mystify the complex world of digital technology and de-risk innovation, working alongside our partners to build sustainable relationships, never losing sight that implementing new technologies needs to have a return on investment or open up new opportunities for economic growth for our SMEs here in the Liverpool City Region.”  

Find out how LJMU and the Horizons project could support your business to make positive changes by visiting the Horizons project webpage.