West Yorkshire Innovation Network

What is the West Yorkshire Innovation Network?

The West Yorkshire Innovation Network (WYIN) brings together the organisations (ecosystem) who provide innovation support to businesses in the region. This includes organisations such as the Leeds City Region Growth Hub, local universities, Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Network, Innovate UK EDGE and Catapult network.  

By joining up the supply side, the aim is to better support our local businesses, creating a collective place which supports businesses to access support, encourage and nurture innovative ideas and to position the region as a hub for innovation. Through improved partnerships working across local, regional and national innovation players, we can drive up demand for the support available and improve the supply and provision for businesses. 

Forming in June 2020, the West Yorkshire Innovation Network has physical presence at two innovation centres, Nexus (part of University of Leeds) and 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (part of University of Huddersfield). Members are listed below and membership is open to all organisations involved in innovation in the region. 

The Network is fully supported by the Mayor of West Yorkshire and forms part of her pledge to support local businesses, demonstrating a commitment to boost innovation activity, productivity and collaboration across the region. 

If you would like to be part of the Network please register your interest here.

Join the West Yorkshire Innovation Network

What is the Network’s purpose? 

1. A strategic group that is bringing together key stakeholders to develop a joined-up voice for Innovation West Yorkshire. This has already been demonstrated through the development of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Innovation Framework and input into the national Innovation Strategy from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). 
2. Establishing an information sharing space including new initiatives, proposals and ideas to drive up innovation in West Yorkshire. An example of this is the work for Space Hub Yorkshire.  

What are the aims of the Network? 

The overarching aims of the network are to: 

• Join up innovation across West Yorkshire and promote our collective story far and wide 

• Create increased coherence between and across organisations to better improve the offer to businesses  
• To raise awareness of opportunities available to businesses including support and funding streams  

The Network will drive the vision set out as part of the region's Innovation Framework:  

A place that is globally recognised for developing an open, inclusive, thriving and coherent innovation ecosystem, where SMEs, budding entrepreneurs and individuals are inspired to innovate, and can easily navigate the support landscape and connect and collaborate with others to create new and better solutions for business growth and societal good.  

The network co-produced the first ever West Yorkshire Innovation Festival in 2021 and will be back in 2022 with a bigger and better festival to profile innovation in the region and showcase the support available to help businesses innovate.