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A Message From Our Founder

Why I Started Northern Arc Partners

I have spent years working across the North of England, and one thing has always struck me: the talent is here, the infrastructure is here, and the ambition is absolutely here. But when I sat in rooms with global investors and national policy makers, they could never quite see it. Compared to the scale of London, they often perceived us as a collection of separate, smaller cities rather than the global powerhouse we are.

This fragmentation is our biggest challenge. While other world-class conurbations like the Randstad in the Netherlands or the Ruhr region in Germany thrive through seamless collaboration, our regions have historically worked in silos, often competing for the same limited pots of funding.

That is why I founded Northern Arc Partners. We are not here to create another layer of bureaucracy, but to be the connecting thread. My journey tracks the very geography of this Arc: born and raised in Leeds, with a path through Newcastle and the global financial hubs of London, I returned to the North with a unique perspective on how international capital perceives our assets.

We are providing Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and Cheshire and Warrington with a single, coordinated voice. By dismantling these silos, we turn six separate stories into one world-class innovation corridor. The North has always had the ingredients: now it is time to bring them together.

“The North does not need another strategy document. It needs someone to pick up the phone, connect the right people, and make sure the world can see what we already know: this is one of the most exciting innovation economies on the planet.”
Damian Mohammed, Founder
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Who are Northern Arc Partners?

Northern Arc Partners are a an independent, politically neutral organisation connecting six regions across Northern England: Lancashire, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and Cheshire & Warrington. We function as a non-competitive framework designed to foster pan-regional collaboration rather than internal rivalry. By unifying these areas into a single, globally competitive innovation corridor, the organisation represents an economic powerhouse of over 10 million people and a combined GVA of £290 billion.

Northern Arc Partners is built by people who believe in the power of the North. A team of experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders working together to connect the region's innovation potential.

Our mission is to leverage collective strengths to attract international investment and accelerate high-value industrial growth.

What is the Quadruple Helix model?

The Quadruple Helix is our operational framework for systemic collaboration across four essential pillars: Academia and Research, Industry and Business, Government and Public Sector, and Civil Society. Unlike traditional top-down models, we treat these pillars as interconnected strands that amplify collective impact.

By strategically aligning these forces, we move beyond siloed working to create a unified ecosystem where research, capital, policy, and community needs converge to drive large-scale regional growth.

How can my organisation partner with Northern Arc?

Organisations across all four Helix pillars can engage via the 'Partner With Us' section on this site. Northern Arc Partners acts as a strategic intermediary for universities, global businesses, innovation hubs, and public bodies. We work to identify shared opportunities, coordinate large-scale investment, and build cross-regional programmes.

Our partnership model is built on rigorous strategic alignment: we exclusively collaborate with organisations committed to delivering sustainable and inclusive growth across the Northern Arc.

How is Northern Arc different from existing regional bodies?

Northern Arc Partners is a strictly independent, industry-led, and non-political development body. Our core principle is simple: we do not compete, we connect. We operate as a strategic bridge that complements the work of existing organisations. While bodies such as the Northern Powerhouse focus on essential pan-regional policy and large-scale infrastructure, Northern Arc Partners functions as the "connective tissue" at the implementation and commercialisation level.

We act as a "single front door" that links Combined Authorities, Trade Organisations, Growth Hubs across regional boundaries. Unlike these statutory bodies, which focus on local governance, inward investment and front-line business support, Northern Arc Partners provides the "stadium infrastructure" to aggregate their efforts into a unified offer for the global market.

By operating as an independent entity, we ensure that the North's shared strengths are visible to international investors who may currently view the region as six fragmented economies rather than one high-value corridor. We empower individual regions to deliver their local mandates while we provide the cross-border connectivity and industry-led focus required to scale the collective innovation assets of the Northern Arc.

What regions does Northern Arc cover?

The Northern Arc spans six interconnected regions in the North of England: Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and Cheshire and Warrington. Each region is located within an hour of the others, creating a dense network of shared sector strengths.

Collectively, these regions house world-leading research universities, premier clusters in advanced manufacturing, and deep expertise in digital health, energy, and materials. This geographic proximity allows us to operate as a singular, globally competitive innovation super-conurbation.