Two of our clients, the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) and the National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) at Newcastle University have recently announced a new partnership to support economic growth and Covid-19 recovery.
NICD operates a unique business model within the higher education sector. Instead of engaging with businesses and organisations through the usual contracted research approach, it focuses on developing the data science skills and capabilities of staff within client companies and organisations. This is done through collaborative projects with NICD playing an advisory, mentoring role to support client staff to deliver a business-critical project and gain new skills and capabilities along the way. This means that skills are developed within the client company, leading to sustainable productivity gains, ongoing innovation and long-term business performance improvements.
The NTCA investment in NICD will see at least 230 businesses supported through digital training, diversification and growth with the creation of 30 jobs and the protection of 50 others.
This investment is part of the £10 million North of Tyne Digital Growth and Innovation Programme, which at 17% of its budget over the next three years is the combined authority’s biggest spending commitment since it was set up in November 2018.
See https://www.northoftyne-ca.gov.uk/news/digital-innovation/