The UK’s first women’s international centre for economic development (WICED) is to launch in Liverpool.

The centre will combine incubation space and gendered enterprise support with a research hub that will develop a global community in the field of women’s enterprise.

Maggie O’Carroll, executive director of Train 2000 and WICED, said that the centre will be the first in the world to draw the three elements together in a single dedicated body.

‘The research arm is of particular importance and will allow us to look at practice and policy and what needs to be done to reverse the trend of female entrepreneurship,’ she said.

A panel of academics and practice-based experts from across the globe will undertake and encourage new research to boost the evidence base in the field.

The research arm will allow the centre to have an impact beyond the northwest, said Ms O’Carroll.

‘I expect it to be a leader in curriculum development and in upgrading business support for everyone.’

WICED, which will run as a social enterprise, will be housed in a £5m building in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle area. Construction of the scheme, run by Kier North West, begins later this year and expects to be completed in late 2010.

The centre received the bulk of its funding from the European Regional Development Fund, with additional funding from Futurebuilders and Liverpool Council among others.

Train 2000, the centre for women’s enterprise and support which Ms O’Connell currently heads up, will be subsumed within the centre.