Science scheme to create new jobs

A new university building will offer support to new businesses

Almost 700 new jobs are to be created in Yorkshire after the European Commission approved a £19m investment aimed at supporting hi-tech businesses.

The bulk of the cash, more than £15m, will help fund a major expansion on the University of York's new Heslington East campus.

A new building on the campus will house a centre offering research, office and exhibition space for new firms.

The project's leaders said it would help to strengthen Yorkshire's economy.

The scheme is being led by Science City York, a partnership between the city council and the university, and the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera).

The agencies said the scheme would increase the productivity of the region's hi-tech industries by £37m by 2014.

About £2m of the money will fund an expansion at Fera's Sand Hutton laboratory complex on the outskirts of York.

'Vote of confidence'

Fera will provide nearly 2,000 sq m (21,500 sq ft) of laboratory or technology manufacturing space which will be available to small to medium businesses which want to expand.

A further £2m will be invested in two bio-refinery projects at the university, which will enable increased research into the potential for the production of chemicals and bio-fuels from waste materials.

Fay Treloar, head of operations at Science City York, said the approval of the investment was a "significant achievement which will have a major impact on the city".

She said the investment would offer "tangible, long-term benefits and help to strengthen the region's economy".

Professor Brian Cantor, vice chancellor at the university, said: "One of the principal drivers for the university's expansion was our conviction that world-class universities, such as York, are the intellectual, cultural, social, economic and technological dynamos of the modern world."

Professor Cantor said the investment was "a tremendous vote of confidence in the university's ability to build new and exciting partnerships, between our world-class research base and businesses, for the good of the economy".