The government has announced South Yorkshire as the first of its revamped university-centred investment zones, just as the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre wins £30 million to create a new research facility focused on making aviation more sustainable.
The first of what will be 12 investment zones nationally, benefiting from £80 million of public funding each, was announced on 14 July for South Yorkshire, with partners including the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the South Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The Treasury said the zones would be “based around a university and clusters of high-growth industries” – including “advanced manufacturing, life sciences, green industries, digital and technology, and creative industries” – delivering “benefits directly to local communities”, with the South Yorkshire zone expected to “help leverage more than £1.2 billion of private funding and help support more than 8,000 jobs by 2030”.
The investment zones plan has been radically reoriented since Liz Truss’ short-lived spell as prime minister, when it was conceived as offering lower-tax, deregulated regimes for selected areas of the country.
