University of Liverpool programme spearheads £42.9m of growth and 257 new jobs

More than 100 senior figures from business, academia and regional leadership gathered at the Royal Liver Building on Friday for Novel. An initiative focused on strengthening the leadership capabilities and connections that drive innovation within ambitious small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Led by the University of Liverpool’s VEC and backed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Novel has been the breakout success story of the wider Horizons programme. The initiative has been supporting SME competitiveness, productivity and sustainable growth across the city region. 

Novel has developed and delivered a unique approach to addressing the challenges of business growth and productivity, focused on strengthening the leadership capabilities that drive innovation within ambitious small and medium-sized enterprises.

The event marked a significant milestone for Novel, which was created to address a long-standing gap in the innovation agenda: leadership. While research, technology and funding exist, many growth-focused SMEs lack the strategic space and support to embed innovation at board level. Novel brings together senior decision-makers from across sectors to build leadership capability, unlock collaboration and translate innovation into measurable commercial impact.

Businesses that have been part of the Horizons initiative have realised:

• Over £800,000 of SME innovation investment supported
• 257 jobs created
• 82% saw productivity improvement
• Are on track to deliver £42.9m in GVA across the region

The programme is positioning Liverpool City Region as a leader in SME-driven innovation in the real economy, recognising that high-growth businesses are the engine of the UK economy and critical to regional prosperity.

Lord Michael Heseltine, widely regarded as one of the architects of Liverpool’s regeneration, addressed delegates and endorsed the region’s continued ambition.

“Some people see excellence in places where it does not yet exist,” he said. “They create the circumstances for it to happen.”

He emphasised that lasting economic change depends on confident local leadership, collaboration and the willingness to compete.

“Regions cannot sit back and expect change to be delivered for them,” he added. “They have to back their own ambition and be prepared to lead.”

Revisiting the regeneration model that reshaped Liverpool, he highlighted how strategic public investment unlocked significantly greater private capital.

“For every pound of public money, we leveraged many more from the private sector,” he said. “That is how you create sustainable growth.”

His address concluded with a standing ovation from assembled business and civic leaders – a reflection of the impact of his role in the city’s transformation and his endorsement of its future ambitions.

Andrew Borland, Novel Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at VEC, University of Liverpool, said:

“Liverpool has always demonstrated what is possible when leadership and ambition come together. Novel exists to ensure that our SME leaders are at the forefront of innovation, not following behind it.

“Growth businesses are the drivers of the UK economy. When we back the leaders of those businesses – equipping them with the knowledge, networks, capability and strategic confidence to innovate – we create jobs, improve productivity and strengthen the entire regional economy.

“With the support of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Horizons and Novel are helping to build a generation of SME leaders ready to shape the future of innovation in our city region.”

Sessions throughout the conference explored AI and digital transformation, the commercialisation of university research and the role of regional ecosystems in scaling high-growth firms. The message was overwhelmingly positive: Liverpool City Region has the leadership, talent and institutional backing to continue driving innovation-led growth.

Novel will continue to build on its success, supporting ambitious SME leaders to translate innovation into sustainable economic impact for the region.