ECO-I North West: Businesses to Benefit from Multi-Million-Pound Low Carbon Programme

After a successful First Cohort finishing in June this year, Cohort 2 is starting in September, and we look forward to welcoming businesses across the North West. We may also have a capital funding grant (funded at 50% match) for grants between £5k – £25k to support businesses to adopt eco innovations, products and processes.  We hope to have further information on this in the coming weeks. For businesses to be eligible for this grant, they will need to attend a Cohort of business support with us first (such as the Cohort starting this September).

Businesses can complete an EOI on the website directly (ECO-I North West · Manchester Metropolitan University (mmu.ac.uk)).

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360 businesses across the North West will benefit from the project

ECO-I North West aims to support a green recovery in the North West as the region emerges from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The new £14 million programme will work with more than 360 businesses across the region to support the research and development of low carbon technologies, products and services that will help drive a green economic recovery in all sectors.

Manchester Metropolitan University will work in partnership with project lead Lancaster University and a consortium of four other institutions from the region on the programme.

It is estimated that the new project will save around 3,850 tonnes of carbon emissions and enable businesses right across North West England to capitalise on the region’s extensive knowledge base and cutting-edge research facilities and skills.

Mandy Parkinson, Head of Business and Public Engagement at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “We are delighted to be part of the Eco-I NW project which brings together our collective expertise in this area within Manchester Met from both the Business School and the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

“We will be building on the successful innovation and growth support that we have delivered within our Centre for Enterprise, PrintCity and Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre over the past decade in our support of thousands of SMEs from across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington.

“Now more than ever, supporting our regions businesses to meet the net-zero target is essential and this consortium brings together expertise from across the region to help them meet that challenge.”

Eco-I North West aims to deliver low carbon innovation to all sectors, but in particular will focus in the thematic areas of: Environmental Industries, Technology and Services, Future Energy Systems and Advanced Manufacturing, as well as Materials and Chemistry.

It will increase the awareness and capacity in SMEs to embrace the opportunities research and development in clean growth can bring to their business.

Supported with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Eco-I North West also aims to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy through forging clusters of major regional employers along with supply chain businesses and innovators, working across sectors on targeted challenges to develop new technologies and solutions.

The programme includes a focused blend of business leadership development, workshops, networking and includes a range of collaborative research and development activities tailored to the needs of each business.

It also offers a capital grant scheme to enable businesses to pilot, prototype and demonstrate new technologies and their benefits.

It will foster a new generation of highly-skilled researchers through the delivery of more than 60 postgraduate research posts at PhD and Masters level all working directly with a local business.

It also enables businesses to work with the pool of highly motivated and talented students across our universities through mutually beneficial internships and projects, enabling a new generation to apply their skills and talents to address immediate practical challenges.