Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre
Total investment: £13.1m
Completed: June 2023
The Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC) is an innovative new £13.1m facility and key component of Tees Valley Combined Authority's regional innovation strategy, which will position Teesside firmly at the heart of the UK's green industrial revolution.
Supporting the ongoing drive for clean energy and sustainability, the NZIIC is the latest development at the expanding Net Zero Innovation Hub, spearheaded by Teesside University and based on the Tees Advanced Manufacturing Park (TeesAMP) in Middlesbrough. The Net Zero Innovation Hub brings together expert insight, resources and partnerships to grow net zero capabilities and opportunities, placing the region at the forefront of the clean energy agenda and helping to create hundreds more clean energy jobs.
Set to be a national centre of excellence, the Net Zero Innovation Hub draws on Teesside University's expertise in clean energy and sustainability, which last year saw the launch of two brand-new centres aligned to this ongoing work – the Circular Economy and Recycling Innovation Centre and the Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Innovation Centre, both set up in partnership with TWI.
The NZIIC will be industry-led and industry-focused in its approach, working with business partners and key organisations and will focus on developing new approaches to tackle the impact of waste and pollution on the environment, utilising expertise around industrial decarbonisation, sustainability and the circular economy.
More about Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre
Tees Valley Combined Authority
The Centre is a part of a £16.1m total funding package recently approved by the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: 'I'm delighted to be supporting plans for Teesside University to create the Innovation Centre. Projects like these are putting Teesside at the centre of developing the technology needed to achieve the government's ambitious net zero targets. With the government and major global companies such as bp investing in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, this centre will help support the industries of the future that are central to my plan for jobs, a plan that is already creating good-quality, well-paid jobs for local workers.
'The centre will be a fantastic example of what can be done when our brilliant local institutions work together, sharing their expertise and skills to help our businesses to grow.
'This is the latest in a long list of initiatives which are boosting our region's clean energy credentials, building on our work to become the UK's premier location for offshore wind and the Net Zero Teesside project to develop the UK's first decarbonised industrial cluster. Together these will help us to achieve our ambitious plans for Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to become a national powerhouse for clean energy.'
European Regional Development Fund
The project is receiving up to £8.85m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations.
European Regional Development Fund
Building progress
Artist impressions
