Project overview

South Yorkshire Innovation District.

Capabilities demonstrated: Design and deliver a place-based, multi-agency, economic development program in South Yorkshire.

Client: Sheffield City Council, Rotherham City Council and Sheffield Mayoral Combined Authority.

Date: April 2021 - July 2023.

​

​The job to be done

Develop the strategy for the next stage of growth for the South Yorkshire Innovation District (formally AMID, the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District).

​

​The key challenges

This was a complex and ambitious program with several key challenges:

​

• Scale: AMID covers 250ha and consists of 4 innovation clusters employing 3,500 people.

• Governance: Balancing the strategic objectives of 6 anchor partners (Sheffield Council, Rotherham Council, University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority).

• Stakeholder engagement: Over 100 public and private partners with an immediate interest in the future of the area.

• Innovation capabilities and ecosystem: Unclear what AMIDs unique innovation capabilities are, and how these can be fully exploited with skills, training, and business support.

• Land ownership: Multiple sites with numerous public and private sectors owners.

• Transport & Infrastructure: A lack of public transport options and limited analysis of future infrastructure investment requirements.

• Public space / placemaking: Under-investment affecting investor confidence and our ability to develop a high-quality, connected, innovation district.

 

​The approach taken

Working with a small delivery team and our stakeholders, we developed a program with five objectives:

​

1. Grow our innovation capabilities in advanced manufacturing, life sciences and wellbeing and low-carbon energy systems.

2. Develop a rich ecosystem of support to enable innovation-focussed business to grow, bringing together skills, training and business support with incubation facilities and finance to accelerate ideas to market.

3. Physically join our four innovation campuses, to create a single innovation district, with a coherent spatial vision for placemaking and transport.

4. Attract investors with a fresh, market-facing, vision, and value proposition, including a refreshed brand and new name, that better reflects our focus and ambition.

5. Identify ways to accelerate the delivery of the innovation district vision and create a self-sustaining fund for future growth.

 

​Outcome and impact

Over circa 24 months, with funding we secured from Department for Levelling-Up Homes and Communities, and in close collaboration with our public and private sector partners, we have delivered:

​

1. An independent review of South Yorkshire’s innovation capabilities to identify our competitive strengths, and the investments in businesses, skills and training required to capitalise on current and future market opportunities.

2. A business support, skills and training plan focussed on enabling people and businesses to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the innovation-led sectors of advanced heath & wellbeing and advanced manufacturing.

3. A spatial vision and strategy describing a sustainable and connected, innovation district that better connects our four innovation campuses to each other, and to surrounding communities and urban centres with a mix of transport, infrastructure, housing, and place-making interventions.

4. A new and distinctive naming and branding strategy that aligns with our partners vision and investment aspirations and in the future may be used to attract talent, businesses, and investors.

5. An assessment of alternative delivery models and vehicles that could be used to accelerate delivery of our recommendations - now part of the discussions about the implementation of the Investment Zone.

 

These outputs have been critical to the recent success of South Yorkshire in being awarded an Investment Zone as announced by The Chancellor of the Exchequer in Sheffield on 13th July, 2023

​