How do you turn business ideas and opportunities into sales?

Innovation is not just for engineers or academics, developing cutting-edge technology, the latest smartphone or ground-breaking cancer treatment. It’s much broader than that, relevant to every aspect of a business of any type or size. Innovation is about doing things differently and applying this thinking to every area of your business.

Our comprehensive support will help you to challenge the status quo, to develop and progress innovation opportunities: it’s our mission to support your businesses to create and commercialise products and services.

Using the latest tools and techniques our specialist advisors can quickly establish the readiness of an innovation project or idea, identify the top challenges, and create a route-to-market plan to full launch and commercialisation.

This fully-funded service is designed for SMEs in Greater Manchester who recognise that, in order to grow, they need to innovate.

Our specialist innovation advisors will work with you in the following areas to accelerate the time to market for your products and services:

• Funding for Innovation: helping you to understand the funding landscape, identify potential sources of finance and evaluate funding readiness
• Making Innovation Pay: evaluating potential business models, managing risk and getting ready to commercialise
• Insight for Innovation: ensuring innovation has a clear value proposition aligned with market and customer needs
• Protecting Intellectual Property: understanding intellectual assets, their value and how to protect and manage them
• Accelerating Innovation through Collaboration: accessing the innovation ecosystem, helping businesses partner with others to solve technical and business challenges
• Stimulating Innovative Thinking: creating a business environment that allows innovation to flourish and encourages new ideas

Innovation is not just about products, it's about every part of your business. From strategy and technology to research and collaboration, innovation is all-encompassing and about doing things differently.

Innovation Vouchers enable businesses to apply for up to £5,000 funding to access expertise, research, and specialist facilities to accelerate the development of innovative products and services. The vouchers provide an opportunity to develop a new, long term and sustainable partnership with a university or a recognised research organisation.

The Innovation Network is an opportunity for business leaders and senior managers to share and receive expertise with other ambitious SMEs, investors, research establishments, universities and technology specialist.