UK Innovation Map

Compare placesDifferent, not ranked.

Two or three clusters, read side by side across sectors, research, companies, capital, infrastructure, government designations and UKIZ relevance. There is no score and no ranking: British clusters are different from one another, not better or worse than one another.

Choose up to three clusters

Side by side

Dimension	Liverpool City RegionNorth West	ManchesterNorth West	Leeds & West YorkshireYorkshire and the Humber
Sectors	Life Sciences, Engineering Biology, Advanced Materials Supporting: Digital Technologies, Clean Energy, Creative Industries	Advanced Materials, Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Creative Industries Supporting: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, Financial Technology, Engineering Biology	Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Financial Technology Supporting: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries
Research	University of Liverpool Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	The University of Manchester Manchester Metropolitan University National Graphene Institute Greater Manchester health innovation partnership	University of Leeds
Companies	Not recorded on the map.	Not recorded on the map.	Leeds health data and digital health cluster
Infrastructure	Not recorded on the map. University research institutes, automated chemistry facilities and port and logistics assets.	MediaCity Advanced manufacturing Catapult capability, North West National materials and graphene facilities, teaching hospitals and clinical research capability, and a major broadcast production estate.	Not recorded on the map. Health data infrastructure, teaching hospitals and university research facilities.
Capital	A modest local investor base; public and charitable research funding dominate.	A growing regional investor base and northern funds, with growth rounds usually led from London.	Financial services depth locally, but early-stage health technology capital remains limited.
Government programmes	Liverpool City Region Freeport, Freeports	No place-based designation recorded.	No place-based designation recorded.
What exists	Infection and tropical medicine research of international standing, materials chemistry and automated discovery, a large port and a Freeport designation.	Advanced materials research including graphene and 2D materials, a large health innovation base built on hospitals and universities, a substantial digital and cyber economy, and the biggest broadcast and creative cluster outside London.	National health data organisations, medical technology, a large financial and professional services base and a research university with data and materials strength.
What's missing · UKIZ interpretation	Translation capacity: strong discovery science with limited local scale-up manufacturing and limited early-stage capital to hold companies in the city region.	The step from materials discovery to volume production, and a growth capital base proportionate to the research output. Health data at population scale is under-used by industry.	A clear route for companies to work with health data at scale, and clinical adoption pathways that move faster than pilot projects.
What could connect · UKIZ interpretation	Infection and biologics research connected to North West and Teesside biomanufacturing capacity, with the port used for export rather than only import.	Materials research connected to Sheffield and Midlands manufacturing, and health innovation connected to Leeds health data capability: a corridor rather than three separate cities.	Leeds health data capability connected to Manchester clinical research and to medical technology manufacturing, giving companies discovery, evidence and production in one region.
UKIZ relevance	Discovery and manufacture here are unusually well connected, with scale-up routes that are already in use. The proposed Manchester mission treats the North West as one health and biomanufacturing geography.	Manchester has scale in four different economies that rarely commission from each other. The relevant missions concentrate on connecting health, materials, digital and creative capability.	Health data at population scale is a national asset. The proposed Manchester mission and Leeds capability are complementary rather than competing.
Last verified	15 August 2026	15 August 2026	15 August 2026

Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation

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