Bernard Ross driving innovation as new Liverpool City Region board member

23 Mar Bernard Ross driving innovation as new Liverpool City Region board member

The Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority has brought together ten local businesspeople from across different industries to form the new LCR Innovation Board.  Our founder and CEO, Bernard Ross is one of the 10.

Meet the team

Chaired by Dr Jon Hague, Vice President Science & Technology for Unilever Homecare, the Innovation Board is the first sub-regional board of its kind in the UK. Its mission is to drive the commercialisation of fresh innovation, inviting investment that helps accelerate growth and encourage international competitiveness across all sectors of the LCR economy.

The new board members joining Bernard include:

• Dr Peter Gallagher, R&D Consultant, Strategic Sciences/Open/Innovation/Digital for R&D, former Unilever Executive Vice President
• Philippa Glover, Managing Director, CNC Robotics Ltd.
• Dr Arun Harish, Strategy Director, Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)
• Richard Katz, Chief Executive, Glass Futures
• Damian Kelly, Vice President Innovation & Technology Development, Croda
• Dr Gillian Murray, Deputy Principal of Business & Enterprise, Heriot-Watt University
• Professor Rasmita Raval, Co-Director of National Biofilm Innovation Centre, University of Liverpool
• Rachel Shorney, Stakeholder & Community Engagement Manager, Scottish Power Energy Networks
• Elliot Street, CEO, Inovus Medical

Innovation is ideal remedy

Commenting on his recent appointment, Bernard Ross said:

“Liverpool has a rich history of innovation. Railways, transatlantic steamships, municipal trams, and electric trains were all pioneered here.

“Innovation is critical to driving both local and national economic growth. It helps attract investment in the region that translates to highly skilled and well-paid jobs. The Liverpool region has talented people able to bring a fresh outlook to existing products and processes – and I cannot wait to begin working with them.

“Innovation is at the heart of all we do at Sky, in bringing life-changing products to market – developed right here in the Liverpool City Region – and adopted by the NHS and health services globally for better patient outcomes.

“I know first-hand the breadth of innovation taking place in the region and I am excited to be part of the refreshed LCR Innovation Board that will help commercialise existing and future innovation.”

The refresh of the LCR Innovation Board comes off the back of the government’s push for innovation outside of the Greater Southeast as part of its levelling up agenda, as well as a flurry of recent major successes, including: the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine-led iiCON infection innovation and commercialisation programme; £210m investment in the ongoing development of STFC’s Hartree Centre in collaboration with IBM Research; the Glass Futures global innovation hub and industrial decarbonisation campus; LCR Ventures – the region’s first dedicated commercialisation vehicle; plus a future project pipeline of more than £3b.

For further information about the LCR Innovation Board and wider agenda, please visit:

LCR Innovation | Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk)