A team from Leeds City Region (LCR) has been given a place on a leadership programme run by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the leading universities in the world.

The Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP) is a two year initiative designed to provide expert, evidence-based guidance in order to assist teams in bringing about significant economic and social change in their region.

Each year, MIT chooses up to nine regional teams worldwide with other teams on the programme coming from as far away as Norway, Ecuador, China and Australia. The teams include entrepreneurs and leaders from government, business, finance and academia.

The LCR team includes leaders from Nexus, the University of Leeds, the LEP and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Leeds City Council, Arup, KPMG, Leeds Academic Health Partnership and entrepreneurs Ben Ziff and Professor Adam Beaumont.

Professor Lisa Roberts, deputy vice-chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds, who led Leeds’ bid and is the team champion for the programme, said: “This is a significant opportunity for us to come together as a collective force to further develop our ambitious innovation and growth plans.

“MIT has clearly identified the region as having key strengths to support the UK economy, in particular the Government’s plans for boosting growth and productivity.”