The consortium has received £4.75m from Durham County Council and North of Tyne Combined Authority, through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), to work together to help strengthen business in the North East, driving forward the Levelling Up agenda.

UKSPF is part of the UK government’s Levelling Up programme providing £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025.

In-TUNE is targeting one of the key objectives of the Fund, aiming to boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging.

Arrow programme expansion

Over the last five years, Newcastle University’s flagship business support programme, Arrow, has helped regional SMEs innovate by connecting them with expertise from Newcastle University, strengthening the local economy along the way.

In-TUNE is driving the expansion of Arrow across the region, and organisations in County Durham and North of Tyne Combined Authority areas can now access innovation support from all four North East universities to develop new products and processes.

Professor Jane Robinson, Newcastle University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor Engagement and Place, said: “We are delighted that this funding will allow us to extend and expand our successful flagship Arrow programme to help businesses innovate.

“Businesses will now be able to access a wider pool of researchers, expertise and facilities from across four of the North East's universities.

“Innovation is key to a successful economy and over the last five years we've seen that Arrow helps to increase innovation activity in local businesses, creating exciting new products and services, along with high quality jobs.”

An independent review forecasts that within the next three years the initial phase of Arrow will have helped regional SMEs to create 143 new jobs, develop 53 new products or services, increase private investment by £2.6m and increase turnover by £16.9m.

In-TUNE is also supporting Northern Accelerator, an innovative programme led by Durham University in collaboration with Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and York Universities to commercialise research and create real-world impact.

Northern Accelerator has transformed the commercialisation of research in the North East, making a significant contribution to the region’s economy.

To date 47 spinout businesses have been created through the programme’s robust support model, with many now based in innovation clusters at Newcastle’s Helix and County Durham’s North East Technology Park (NETPark).

Richard Baker, Director of Economic Development and Commercialisation at Durham University, said: “In-TUNE is an important strategic partnership which brings together and grows Northern Accelerator to support academic entrepreneurs, and Arrow to support regional businesses start-up, innovate and grow.

“Our universities are one of the North East’s great strengths. Each university is distinctive and makes significant individual contributions locally and regionally. By working together on these key initiatives, we will make a real impact on the strength of the business base in the region.

“We are also ambitious to do more, and we are looking forward building on these successful programmes through In-TUNE to achieve more together.”

Boosting North East economy

An external evaluation forecasts that Northern Accelerator will have added an additional £140m to the value of the North East economy by 2030, measured in GVA. That contribution to the region’s economy is well underway, with spinouts from the partner universities raising over £100m investment in the last five years and currently employing over 650 people.

Dr Tim Hammond, programme lead for Northern Accelerator, said: “Since 2016 Northern Accelerator has evolved into a six-university partnership, continuing to grow and expand the support to allow academic spinouts the best chance of success. De-risking investment opportunities and creating strong management teams to lead businesses that employ people in high-value jobs here in the North East.

“This new funding from UKSPF is a huge boost to the partnership, allowing us to further develop the flagship elements of our programme that have embedded our best-practice support across our partner universities, ensuring the pipeline of high-tech businesses continues to accelerate, and strengthening the North East’s innovation ecosystem.”