Growth Hub and Uni aiming to boost SME innovation

THE Business Growth Hub and the University of Manchester have teamed up to offer financial support for Greater Manchester SMEs to help them innovate.
 
As part of the partnership the two organisations have launched ‘The Innovation Voucher Pilot Programme’.

The scheme is being used to encourage collaboration between SMEs and the University and is aimed at providing access to the wealth of knowledge and facilities in the University to solve a particular innovation challenge. The vouchers aim to help businesses which are encountering problems when developing either a new product, service, or process.
 
With support from the Business Growth Hub’s innovation team, the voucher can be used to fund projects up to a total value of £10,000 with the University of Manchester providing 50% of the funding support up to £5,000. Typical projects which will be considered might involve needing access to technical or technology expertise from the University, market research, prototyping and product design. Priority will be given to companies within the advanced materials and manufacturing sectors.
 
The programme is aimed at SMEs which have fewer than 250 employees with a turnover of less than £38m and businesses that are not owned by an external company by more than 25 per cent.
 
Matthew Crimes, senior innovation advisor at the Business Growth Hub, said: “Partnering with the University of Manchester is a fantastic way to help SMEs in Greater Manchester.

“With many companies with growth potential looking at breaking into the next stage of their business lifecycle, this competition offers them an opportunity to take advantage of both our expertise and the resources of one the biggest universities in Europe.”
 
Applications for round one of the Innovation Voucher pilot programme are open until 5pm on February 27.