Partner Article

Place-based innovation: why regions need ecosystems they can believe in

By Alex Pilkington, Senior Innovation Specialist, RTC North

If you’d told me five years ago that a conversation on a Tuesday afternoon at ICAEW would change the trajectory of my career, I wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s exactly what happened.

I was chatting with colleagues about what we should focus on the following year. ‘Let’s do something on innovation, and I suggested something creative, energetic, something that might spark real momentum. That small idea became the first Liverpool City Region Innovation Investment Summit, and everything changed.

We reached out to partners, pulled in speakers and collaborated with the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority Innovation team and Professional and Business Services Board to deliver an event with more than 200 people packed into the room. The atmosphere was electric with businesses, investors, universities and policymakers all in one place, talking seriously about innovation and what it could mean for our region.

That event helped secure a multimillion-pound Innovate UK Launchpad for the Liverpool City Region. It became the catalyst for four years of collaboration, new investment and even a place in the finals for European Capital of Innovation.

That experience ignited my passion for place-based innovation, the belief that regions transform their competitiveness when people choose to work with each other, not around each other, and it’s what brought me to RTC North.

When I joined RTC, I expected to do the ‘day job’: supporting businesses to innovate, helping strengthen leadership, connecting companies with funding, networks and new markets. I love that work, but I also do something equally important, I help build the ecosystem that enables those businesses to thrive.

RTC gives me the time, permission and trust to stay connected to the region, working on a wide range of projects that benefit the regional economy, and that’s what truly moves the dial.

I work closely with the LCR Combined Authority to help shape the region’s ambition through Innovation Investment Fortnight, inward investment conversations and strategic projects, and RTC really value this.

They understand something many organisations miss, that innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. You can’t helicopter in, deliver a project and disappear. If you want real change, you need to be part of the fabric of a place, its networks, its conversations, its hopes and frustrations. That’s RTC’s philosophy.

We’re not a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ organisation. RTC actively work to support the wider business ecosystem, so we can add real value to the long terms success of the region.

People often ask what a ‘typical day’ looks like for me. The truth? There isn’t one. One day I might be in a two-hour strategy session with a scaling tech business, mapping their funding roadmap and exploring acquisitions, values, leadership and culture.

Another day I’m in London at Canada House, meeting the Alberta innovation team to deepen UK–Canada collaboration, the kind of work that leads to fantastic opportunities and cross-border partnerships.

Sometimes I’m coaching a newly appointed CEO in leadership, something I absolutely love. Innovation isn’t just technology; it’s mindset, confidence and behaviour.

Other days, I’m connecting with key stakeholders and strategic partners to share best practice and strengthen city-to-city learning.

This variety isn’t accidental; it’s the nature of place-based innovation.

When you’re so closely connected to a place, you see everything, the gaps, the opportunities, the moment when the right conversation unlocks something transformative for a business or for the whole region.

We talk a lot about productivity in policy circles, often in abstract terms. But when you’re working with businesses every day, you see the lived reality. A region’s competitiveness depends on how quickly ideas can move, how easily businesses can access the right networks, how leaders are supported to make bold decisions, how well organisations collaborate rather than duplicate and how effectively funding aligns with genuine economic opportunity.

When that system works, businesses grow faster, innovation becomes normalised, investment flows and, when businesses thrive, living standards rise.

This is why I care about place based innovation It’s not about buzzwords, it’s about people’s lives.

Place-based innovation isn’t just my job; it’s what gives me purpose, and at RTC, I get to do it with commitment, trust and a long-term mindset that genuinely supports businesses and strengthens the region I care deeply about.

If you’re a business, policymaker or regional leader who believes in the power of place-based innovation, or if you want to understand how to unlock more value from your local ecosystem, RTC North can help.

Discover how we support regions, businesses and partners to innovate, collaborate and grow: visit www.rtcnorth.co.uk to learn more.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by RTC North .