Investment to Build on Yorkshire’s Bioeconomic Sector

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), has awarded the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) at the University of York £1.5m to support the growth of local businesses that deliver innovative products, processes or services related to renewable, biological resources.

The BDC is offering 80 pre-funded projects for SME’s located in the Leeds City Region, - an area covering much of North, West and South Yorkshire – up to 2020. This follows on from the centre’s previous business support programmes which have helped more than 300 local SMEs since 2012.

Joe Ross, Director at the Biorenewables Development Centre said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for local companies to get support to develop innovative products or processes in an exciting high growth sector.”

There will also be funding through this programme to develop cluster-building activities by the regions BioVale innovation cluster.

Sarah Hickingbottom, CEO at BioVale added: “BioVale will complement the BDC’s R&D offering by facilitating networking and dialogue, building collaborations and coordinating specialised training with businesses working in the bioeconomy.”

“If you are working with renewable or waste materials this is a unique opportunity to access tailored support”.

The Yorkshire region has a large and thriving bioeconomy. A Government-commissioned Science and Innovation Audit (SIA) of the bioeconomy in the north of England revealed there are over 16,000 bioeconomy related companies in the north of England, with a total annual turnover of over £91 billion, employing around 415,000 people.

The UK’s bioeconomy is estimated to be worth £220 billion gross value added (GVA) and the Government’s recently published bioeconomy strategy has set ambitious targets to double its size by 2030.