We connect firms of all sizes in Greater Manchester to the people, resources and expertise needed to accelerate innovation within sustainable advanced materials.

Whether you need access to research facilities, help with project risk planning, or developing a detailed growth plan, our fully-funded support can fast-track you to commercialisation.

Moving the world towards a greener future

Our specialist team is on hand to help move you from prototype to market. That includes support with:

Sourcing the appropriate sustainable material
Turning sustainable materials innovation into market-ready products
Sustainably scaling production
Responding to environmental and consumer demands
Meeting sustainable development goals and regulatory compliance
Collaboration with universities, research organisations and commercial sector suppliers
Identifying funding opportunities, including flexible grant funding

Hear from the businesses we’ve helped

“GM Business Growth Hub have saved me 12 to 18 months in development time. The funding and support gave us the confidence to push ahead with something that carries real commercial and technical risk. In business, R&D always comes with a level of uncertainty – you can invest a lot and not get the outcome you hoped for. Knowing we had backing behind us made a huge difference in being able to take that step.”

Colin Holmes, Managing Director, Future Safety

“We didn’t even know about GM Business Growth Hub before this. But they’ve opened up so many opportunities, including future collaborations with universities and other innovation partners.”

Andy Leatt, Technical & Development Director, Puragen

“GM Business Growth Hub helped us to optimise our processes, assess capability gaps and pinpoint the investment in equipment we needed to quickly scale up and meet rising demand. […] We simply would not have got there without their attention to detail and professional approach.”

Jeremy Kemsley-Pein, Director, Heatsense Cables

Flexible grant funding

As part of our support, grant funding is available for eligible sustainable advanced materials projects that are clearly defined and ready to move forward rapidly towards commercialisation. Businesses must be UK-registered with a physical trading address in Greater Manchester.

Examples of eligible activities include:

Access to specialist technical facilities and equipment
Product design
Research and development
Knowledge transfer
Consultancy
Testing and validation

Application and project timeline:

April 2026: Expressions of interest now being considered
18th December 2026: Projects must be complete
February 2027: Deadline for project impacts to be realised and evidenced

Accelerating sustainable advanced materials projects

Moving the world towards a greener future

Hear from the businesses we’ve helped

“We didn’t even know about GM Business Growth Hub before this. But they’ve opened up so many opportunities, including future collaborations with universities and other innovation partners.”

“GM Business Growth Hub helped us to optimise our processes, assess capability gaps and pinpoint the investment in equipment we needed to quickly scale up and meet rising demand. […] We simply would not have got there without their attention to detail and professional approach.”

Flexible grant funding

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