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Two or three clusters, read side by side across sectors, research, companies, capital, infrastructure, government designations and UKIZ relevance. There is no score and no ranking: British clusters are different from one another, not better or worse than one another.

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Side by side

Dimension	Liverpool City RegionNorth West	Nottingham & DerbyEast Midlands	Leeds & West YorkshireYorkshire and the Humber
Sectors	Life Sciences, Engineering Biology, Advanced Materials Supporting: Digital Technologies, Clean Energy, Creative Industries	Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy, Mobility & Transport Technology Supporting: Advanced Materials, Digital Technologies, AgriTech & FoodTech	Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Financial Technology Supporting: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries
Research	University of Liverpool Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine	University of Nottingham	University of Leeds
Companies	Not recorded on the map.	Not recorded on the map.	Leeds health data and digital health cluster
Infrastructure	Not recorded on the map. University research institutes, automated chemistry facilities and port and logistics assets.	Not recorded on the map. Propulsion and nuclear engineering facilities, rail test capability and chemistry research centres.	Not recorded on the map. Health data infrastructure, teaching hospitals and university research facilities.
Capital	A modest local investor base; public and charitable research funding dominate.	Corporate and supply chain finance; limited venture activity.	Financial services depth locally, but early-stage health technology capital remains limited.
Government programmes	Liverpool City Region Freeport — Freeports	East Midlands Investment Zone — Investment Zones East Midlands Freeport — Freeports	No place-based designation recorded.
What exists	Infection and tropical medicine research of international standing, materials chemistry and automated discovery, a large port and a Freeport designation.	Aerospace propulsion and small modular reactor engineering, rail technology, sustainable chemistry research and one of Europe's busiest air freight hubs.	National health data organisations, medical technology, a large financial and professional services base and a research university with data and materials strength.
What's missing · UKIZ interpretation	Translation capacity: strong discovery science with limited local scale-up manufacturing and limited early-stage capital to hold companies in the city region.	Diversification of the supply chain beyond a small number of large primes, and company formation from a strong engineering research base.	A clear route for companies to work with health data at scale, and clinical adoption pathways that move faster than pilot projects.
What could connect · UKIZ interpretation	Infection and biologics research connected to North West and Teesside biomanufacturing capacity, with the port used for export rather than only import.	Propulsion and nuclear engineering connected to Sheffield manufacturing research and Midlands electrification — one Midlands industrial mission rather than three sectors.	Leeds health data capability connected to Manchester clinical research and to medical technology manufacturing, giving companies discovery, evidence and production in one region.
UKIZ relevance	Discovery and manufacture sit unusually close together here. The proposed Manchester mission treats the North West as one health and biomanufacturing geography.	Propulsion and nuclear capability sit alongside the Midlands mobility mission. The proposed Midlands zone connects them.	Health data at population scale is a national asset. The proposed Manchester mission and Leeds capability are complementary rather than competing.
Last verified	15 August 2026	15 August 2026	15 August 2026

Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation

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