Our Vision
BioYorkshire will deliver a bold new green agenda to create jobs, boost the regional economy - and develop sustainable solutions for some of the UK’s most pressing environmental challenges.
​
Led by the University of York, Askham Bryan College and Fera Science, the project will harness scientific expertise to develop bio-based supplies of fuel, chemicals and materials. It will also work with the region’s farmers and agricultural industries to drive innovation while enabling more productive and sustainable crop production and land use.
​
The project will also support North Yorkshire's ambitions to become one of the first areas in the UK to be carbon negative.
"Working together with diverse stakeholders such as the BioYorkshire initiative enables us to unlock sustainable value from precious natural resources for the benefit of the communities in which we operate."
AngloAmerican
What BioYorkshire will deliver
BioYorkshire will use biobased innovation to transform Yorkshire’s economy through world-class research and translation facilities, a network of specialised business incubators, training, networking and entrepreneurial support.
​
We’ll use the region’s established science base to deliver biobased production of chemicals, materials, and fuels. The project will also support net-zero food production, farming and wider land use practices.
​
BioYorkshire Innovation & Skills Central will comprise a suite of world-leading science infrastructure and training for bioeconomy entrepreneurs and innovators including:
​
-
globally recognised research institutes
-
scale-up and demonstrator facilities
-
skills and training centres
Each part of this infrastructure will be designed to accommodate both researchers and businesses to maximise opportunities for interaction.
​
We’ll establish BioYorkshire District Incubator Hubs across York and North Yorkshire to link local green economy start-ups and business scale-ups with the facilities and training at Innovation Central. The hubs will foster cross-fertilisation of knowledge and innovation across sectors.
​
The BioYorkshire Accelerator will provide advice, expertise, networks and promotional opportunities for businesses across the region, accelerating the deployment of green economy innovations from development to commercialisation.
Why it matters
The importance of BioYorkshire to the resilience, growth and prosperity of our region is amplified in the context of COVID-19.
​
We will accelerate a green economic recovery, create new sustainable jobs and improve resilience in our area through supporting innovative entrepreneurs to start-up companies, enabling Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to scale up their businesses and improving efficiencies of industry through collaborative research.
​
BioYorkshire will create 4,000 highly skilled jobs, boost our economy by over £1.4bn and reduce 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually.
Collectively this will ‘level-up’ our region by boosting productivity and economic output, while still committing ourselves to being a negative carbon region.
Tackling climate change, ensuring a resilient, sustainable supply of key resources and meeting growing food demand will all require innovation and growth in the bioeconomy and forms an essential component of a green recovery programme.