Cabinet to consider funding boost for health, wellbeing and digital businesses
Cabinet will be asked to approve funding to support businesses in the health, wellbeing and digital sectors.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has agreed to provide the council with revenue grant funding totalling £2,023,576.25 via the Government’s Investment Zone initiative to help deliver the Huddersfield Health Innovation Incubator (HHII) programme.
Cabinet members will decide on 2 December whether to accept the external funding to deliver the programme in partnership with the University of Huddersfield and the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC).
Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, said:
“The HHII programme has the potential to make a real contribution to achieving the outcomes the council set out in its Inclusive Economy Strategy, adopted earlier this year. It is all about developing and diffusing innovative solutions to tackle some of West Yorkshire’s biggest health and social care challenges, improving health outcomes, and driving local economic growth.
“This programme is an opportunity to further strengthen our partnership working with the University of Huddersfield and 3M BIC and to add value to the ground-breaking National Health Innovation Campus and the wider regeneration of the Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor.”
Funding for the programme has been secured for a four-year period, ending on 31 March 2029. The business case for the programme was formally approved by WYCA in February 2025
Businesses in the health, wellbeing and digital sectors that are seeking to start-up or expand will have access to office and co-working spaces at the Glass Box business centre and in the Health Business Innovation Centre (HBIC) in the Emily Siddon Building at the health campus when this opens in 2026. The HBIC will also provide specialist lab facilities and a health innovation makerspace. Businesses will also be able to access space at the existing 3M Buckley Innovation Centre.
Cabinet will decide on approving to receive external funding from the WYCA, enter into grant agreements with WYCA and delivery partners, and begin the necessary procurement processes to move the programme forward.