The recent UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds has cemented its place as a major platform for shaping the future of development across the country. With over 16,500 delegates from across the UK and abroad, it has become a central hub for policy and investment in real estate.

Regionalisation was one of the key topics for discussion this year with many of the regional combined authorities in England, like Manchester, Liverpool and Tees Valley, espousing the value and momentum that their devolved regional investment powers have brought to their respective cities and towns. If you go to any of these areas, you can see for yourself the levels of transformation that have been achieved in recent years.

A UK government-backed innovation programme has delivered a major boost to regional economies, generating more than £140 million in new investment and creating up to 250 full-time equivalent jobs across the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Glasgow City Region.

Funded by Innovate UK, working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), early impacts emerging from the Innovation Accelerator pilot programme demonstrate it is already delivering significant economic outcomes.

You might not think innovation can be found by looking in the past, but my experience of an Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership at a historic royal palace shows that it very much can.

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a scheme to help businesses innovate and grow through a collaboration between a business, a university and a graduate.

A modern Formula 1 car consists of approximately 15,000 individual parts each meticulously designed and engineered for performance, safety, and aerodynamics. Every part plays a crucial role in optimising the cars performance in a highly competitive racing environment, so if one part is broken then the whole car and performance suffers.

A Formula 1 car isn’t just a race machine - it’s a symbol of innovation, precision, teamwork, and adaptability, all elements equally as crucial in the business world to achieve success. Every year without fail, a Formula 1 team will evolve its car design and operations for the following year in a relentless pursuit of perfection.

Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) programme is marking 50 years in 2025. Since 1975 it has supported over 14,000 transformative projects and generated billions to the UK economy.