What is the Northern Arc?

The Northern Arc is an innovation corridor connecting six major clusters across Northern England: Lancashire, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and Cheshire and Warrington. Together they form one globally competitive system of over 10 million people generating £290 billion GVA.

Who are Northern Arc Partners?

Northern Arc Partners is 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 combine our 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.

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