Multi-million pound projects aimed at preventing a “devastating” flu outbreak and accelerating innovations around infection control have been launched in the Liverpool City Region (LCR).
A five-year, £5m collaboration between Liverpool’s Pandemic Institute and Speke -based vaccine giant Seqirus has been announced, aimed at preventing a devastating influenza outbreak. Additionally, a further £1.7m government funding deal has been confirmed for the region’s world-leading iiCON Consortium, which brings together industry, academia and the NHS to accelerate products and innovations linked to infection control.
Alongside these projects, a refreshed Science and Innovation Audit (SIA) has been launched, highlighting the LCR’s world-leading specialisms in infection control, materials chemistry and AI solutions, plus emerging strengths in net zero and maritime. Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram described the projects as “momentous” for the city region.
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Mr Rotheram joined executives from Seqirus, the Pandemic Institute, and the University of Liverpool to announce the three initiatives at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine before touring the iiCON laboratories. The announcements come weeks after the first ever Liverpool City Region Innovation Prospectus was published - showcasing the region’s world-leading innovation strengths and more than £12bn worth of investment opportunities.
The Metro Mayor said: “The Liverpool City Region is a place where creativity flourishes. We have a longstanding record of developing inventions and innovations that have transformed the world and saved millions of lives in the process.
“But it’s not just about our history; we have a thriving innovation economy that attracted more than £2bn of investment in the years before the pandemic. To deliver real levelling up, the government – whoever might be leading it – needs to think bigger than the Golden Triangle of Oxford, Cambridge and London.
“We recently launched an innovation prospectus, outlining the breadth of our ‘shovel ready’ projects that could add £20bn to the city region and create 44,000 skilled jobs.” Mr Rotheram said developments from Westminster “might cast some doubt on the future of levelling up” but wanted a new government to “work with us to deliver the investment that our region and the country sorely needs.”
He added: “But we are already thinking bigger and braver than national government – our research and development targets are nearly double theirs – but, frustratingly, we can’t deliver on this without their support. Our region has demonstrated time and time again that when we are given the right support, we are more than capable of delivering an even greater return to the Treasury.”
Under the partnership, Seqirus and the University of Liverpool Pandemic Institute will participate in research and knowledge generation around the threat of influenza and the development of innovative approaches to pandemic preparedness and response. Seqirus will provide financial support, research materials and scientific and technical expertise for five years aimed at developing scientific and medical advances in seasonal and pandemic flu prevention.
Seqirus currently employs more than 800 people at the UK’s largest influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in Speke. Led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the iiCON consortium partners, which include Unilever, Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust, the University of Liverpool, Evotec, and Infex Therapeutics are working on a series of ambitious programmes to accelerate the development of new products and innovations in infection control.
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