Science in the city region: Establishing Liverpool’s life science ecology

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of soft and hard infrastructures to support a life science ecology in a peripheral European city region. Liverpool City Region has received almost £1.7bn in capital investment through the EU Cohesion Policy to redevelop the city region and reinvigorate its economy towards knowledge based industries. The analysis of the city regions life science ecology highlights the uneven development of hard and soft infrastructures. Due to the diversity of firms within the region it has proven difficult to establish soft infrastructure related to scientific knowledge. The outcome has led to soft infrastructures being more business support orientated rather than scientific knowledge based, reducing inter-firm connections on a product or service basis. The evidence shows that not all types of soft infrastructure emerge as an outcome of investment. Hence, policy makers need to provide a clearer narrative on their investments, focusing on fewer core competencies rather than breadth of activities.