Universities offer important growth opportunities for challenged cities
UNIVERSITIES located in cities with big economic challenges are pursuing new ways to work with high-growth businesses in their area, a new report has said.
The report Delivering Change: Supporting links between cities, universities and high-growth firms supported by Santander and compiled by think tank Centre for Cities, said the collaborations were helping to create jobs and drive innovation.
However, the report concludes that in order to maintain success, the universities will need bespoke support from Government and local authorities.
Many of the innovative partnerships are taking place in some of the country’s weaker economies, where challenges include high unemployment, low skills and poor education standards.
The report said these trends had to be reversed if the UK economy outside London and the South East was to grow sustainably in the years ahead.
It said universities operating in these cities offered their local economies an important avenue to boost growth and help improve performance over the long term.
Alexandra Jones, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities said: “Many of our universities have been innovators in creating effective collaborations with businesses within their cities and beyond. Supporting these existing networks to keep doing what they are doing will be important to encourage better, balanced, growth across the country. They can help to create high quality, sustainable jobs, in some of the places that face some of the biggest economic challenges.”
Simon Bray, Director, Santander Universities Global Division said: “It is clear from this report that Cities have a vital role to play in championing collaboration between their universities and their business community. Cities need to really back these initiatives and act as convenors to facilitate the networking that is vital to success. These relationships can bring enormous value to city economies, creating jobs and boosting growth”
