Team Plymouth

Working with our partners to drive the city's long-term success while enhancing national resilience and security
Plymouth buildings and sea viewed from the University of Plymouth campus

Team Plymouth

Working with our partners to drive the city's long-term success while enhancing national resilience and security

Our vision is for Plymouth to be a place where innovation, education and creativity drive economic growth on an unprecedented scale. We want to make Britain’s Ocean City the envy of the world – a safe, sustainable and welcoming destination, and a city transformed… not by chance, but by the choices we make together.

Richard DaviesProfessor Richard Davies
Vice-Chancellor and Lead of the Team Plymouth Business, Innovation & Marine Autonomy workstream

Team Plymouth logo
 
The Ministry of Defence has committed an additional £4.4 billion investment into His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) and Babcock’s Devonport Royal Dockyard, maintaining the Royal Navy’s fleet in Plymouth beyond 2070. In September 2025, the UK Government announced the city is to receive a share of £250 million through its UK Defence Growth Deals scheme . That investment will be used to forge long-term partnerships between government, business and research institutions in the city and to harness local expertise and resources in support of the UK Armed Forces.

What is Team Plymouth?

is an ambitious partnership spanning defence, industry, academia, and local and national government. Its vision is to maximise the opportunity for defence investment to support the Continuous at Sea Deterrent while driving growth, encouraging innovation and building opportunities extending well beyond Plymouth city boundaries into the regional footprint.
Its work is split into six interconnected workstreams, which will deliver unprecedented levels of investment and interest in the city. With defence as the catalyst, the ambition is to deliver a programme of defence-driven growth so every part of the city – and every person living and working in and around it – to benefit from this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Professor Richard Davies addresses delegates at the launch of Team Plymouth
Professor Richard Davies addresses delegates at the launch of Team Plymouth in September 2025

The University is represented on the Team Plymouth programme board and its workstreams:

  • ]

    Business, innovation and marine autonomy

  • x

    Skills (post-16)

  • Æ

    Education (pre-16)

  • '

    City centre, housing and regeneration

  • ^

    Transport

  • Ê

    Social value, delivering impact

 

Business, innovation and marine autonomy

We are uniquely placed to lead Team Plymouth’s Business, Innovation and Marine Autonomy workstream.
With decades of experience in working with local and global partners to develop and deploy autonomous systems, we have delivered award-winning programmes that enable industry to benefit from our academic excellence and student and graduate ingenuity.
Through the Plymouth Defence Growth Deal, and its commitment to create an Advanced Marine Technology Hub, we will now use our expertise and ambition to expand the city’s capabilities in dual-use technologies, marine science, and critical national infrastructure support.
Chaired by our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richard Davies , the Business, Innovation and Marine Autonomy workstream – which incorporates the new Plymouth Innovation Board - features key representatives from the defence sector, large and small industries, technology innovators and skills providers.
Its aim is to foster an effective ecosystem of business, innovation and marine autonomy that places us even closer to the heart of the UK’s national resilience. It also positions us to develop a suite of collaborative R&D capabilities and facilities through which we can rapidly grow the UK’s marine autonomy capability, supply chain expertise and export potential across a range of sectors.
Representatives of the Royal Navy and University of Plymouth meet beside Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Cetus at the launch of the National Centre for Coastal Autonomy
This work builds on Plymouth's designation as the National Centre for Marine Autonomy and complements the successes of , creating opportunities to enhance the city's existing capabilities as a unique testing and assurance environment.
It reaffirms Plymouth as the go-to place for excellence in marine autonomy , maritime cyber security , offshore renewable energy and environmental intelligence. It will also enable the University to expand its own marine autonomy expertise, creating a critical mass of world-leading experts and unrivalled student and graduate opportunities in this emerging and exciting field.
 

Skills (post-16)

Innovation can only occur where you have people with the right skills.
Plymouth's dockyard already employs more than 11,000 people, including many University of Plymouth graduates, and the forecast investment is expected to grow those numbers significantly.
The Team Plymouth plan has a clear focus on ensuring young people from the Plymouth area play their role in its future success, through pre-16 education initiatives through to post-16 skills. The hope is this will raise attainment and achievement while building skills to enable everyone to take advantage of the opportunities that the defence-driven growth will bring.
Our university offers an increasing number of programmes – from foundation to PhD level – that will provide future generations of defence and security professionals with direct and transferable skills, benefiting Plymouth's business community. Our hope is that these programmes will also inspire the Plymouth business leaders of the future to realise that this is a city where they can not only come and study, but also stay and secure highly skilled employment when they graduate.
The investment will create opportunities in disciplines such as engineering and computer science , business and management , environmental science , games , psychology and much more. With thousands of people expected to move to our city, there will also be increased demand for our graduates in healthcare, the creative industries, education and social mobility.
The first cohort of the new Going Nuclear module that has developed by the University in collaboration with Babcock International Group and the Ministry of Defence
We are already working with key employers in the city and beyond to launch new programmes – such as our Going Nuclear  module, created in partnership with Babcock and the Ministry of Defence – that provide our graduates with essential skills and enable those already in work to upskill.
We have worked with the business community to co-create higher and degree apprenticeships which combine on-the-job experience with a full degree-level qualification, with the direct aim of overcoming skills gaps and improving staff retention.
Our ambition is to continue working with our partners to expand this offer so it benefits current and future generations in our city.
We are also proud to be supporting City College Plymouth, with whom we have enjoyed a long and successful partnership , in their bid to be among the first in the UK to be awarded Defence Technical Excellence College (DTEC) status.
 

Social value, delivering impact

The partners in Team Plymouth are working to deliver a thriving, inclusive Plymouth with a shared commitment to drive social value, reduce inequalities and enhance resident well-being.
They are areas the University has been championing for decades, and it will use its expertise to benefit every organisation and individual working to deliver these aims across the city.
Through its participation in the , the University has demonstrated how culture, creativity and place can benefit communities and people in Plymouth . This is work its staff and students are continuing through research and other activities being delivered in direct partnership with organisations such as Plymouth Culture, Real Ideas and The Box.
The University also runs innovative healthcare and social justice programmes, with its Dental Education Facilities and Centre for Eyecare Excellence (CEE) providing assistance to thousands of the most vulnerable people in society – including people experiencing homelessness, people with dementia, young children, refugees, military veterans, and children who have been in care. 
The University of Plymouth Law Clinic , run by staff and students, works to support those with legal issues relating to immigration, family, employment, welfare, the environment and housing.
Children's dental clinics
Globally recognised for its sustainability achievements and leadership, the University is working with businesses, local authorities and individual to foster greater environmental stewardship and empowerment at a time when people and the planet have never needed it more.
All this expertise aligns with the ambitions of the Civic Engagement Agreement , signed by Plymouth’s four largest employers – including the University – in June 2025. Its ambition is to deliver collaborative and measurable outcomes that contribute to Plymouth’s shared civic priorities, and that has now become one of the guiding principles of this workstream.
 
 

Our core team working on the Team Plymouth programme includes:

 

We are working to forge meaningful partnerships that deliver real benefits for our University – and everyone living and working in our city

If you are an external partner interested in collaborating with us – or a member of staff or student at the University with an idea you feel could be of interest to Team Plymouth – please email partnerships@plymouth.ac.uk
The partners of Team Plymouth attend the launch of the new collaboration at Devonport Market Hall on Friday 19 September 2025
 

Read more linked to our role in Team Plymouth

More related news

Gordon Meadow and Professor Richard Davies
 

Watch these short videos about our contribution to Team Plymouth

Professor Richard Davies and Luke Pollard MP talk about the contribution the University will make to Team Plymouth 
Professor Kevin Jones explains our research in advanced marine and dual-use technologies
Professor Chris Bennewith and Professor Robert Fern talk about driving social change
Adrian Dawson and Sarah Fear talk about our work with Plymouth's businesses and innovators
Professor Chris Fogwill on our work to inspire future generations of scientists and engineers
 

Delivering on the UK’s defence and security priorities  

Discover how the University and its partners are enhancing our national resilience in line with the UK's 2025 Strategic Defence Review
 
Plymouth docklands at mouth of the Tamar