Greater Manchester has been selected alongside Glasgow City Region and the West Midlands to pilot the Innovation Accelerator programme, a new model for place-based research and development investment backed by one hundred million pounds in government funding. The programme, awarded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, targets sectors where each region has established research strengths, with the aim of accelerating economic growth and strengthening the United Kingdom's global competitiveness in high-value industries.
For Greater Manchester, the funding has been directed towards projects in four frontier sectors: advanced materials and manufacturing, artificial intelligence and digital technology, health innovation and life sciences, and clean growth. A total of ten projects across the city-region have been selected through a collaborative process involving the Innovation Greater Manchester board, which brings together the private sector, academia, and local government.
Health Innovation at the Heart of the Programme
Among the selected projects is a health innovation accelerator delivered through a partnership between Health Innovation Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, and The University of Manchester. This accelerator encompasses a portfolio of diagnostic projects targeting major conditions prevalent in the Greater Manchester population, including liver disease, heart failure, lung cancer, and cardiometabolic disorders.
The DEVOTE Programme sits within this health innovation portfolio, focusing specifically on the development and validation of time critical genomic testing technologies. By drawing together academic, industrial, and clinical partners, the programme aims to create new pathways for translating genetic research into practical diagnostic tools that can be deployed in clinical settings across the NHS.
A New Approach to Innovation Investment
The Innovation Accelerator represents a departure from traditional top-down research funding models. Instead of central government directing resources to individual projects, the programme empowers local partnerships to identify and prioritise investments based on regional strengths and needs. This approach is designed to produce stronger outcomes by ensuring that funding decisions are informed by the people closest to the research and its potential applications.
The programme has also been designed to leverage significant additional investment from the private sector. Across the health innovation strand, partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics businesses, and digital health firms have contributed substantial co-investment, reflecting confidence in Greater Manchester's capacity to deliver commercially viable innovation. Innovate UK, which leads the programme on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, has highlighted the accelerator as a model for future innovation policy across the country.
Building on Regional Strengths
Greater Manchester's selection for the pilot programme reflects the region's well-established research ecosystem. The city-region is home to globally recognised expertise in genomics, precision medicine, advanced materials, and artificial intelligence, supported by a network of universities, NHS trusts, and research institutions that have a strong track record of collaboration with industry.
The programme's emphasis on reducing health inequalities is particularly relevant to Greater Manchester, where residents in many areas experience poorer health outcomes than the national average. By funding diagnostic innovations that focus on earlier detection and more targeted treatment, the accelerator aims to improve outcomes specifically in the communities that stand to benefit most.
With projects now underway and the programme already attracting attention as a potential blueprint for innovation investment elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the coming years will test whether the place-based approach can deliver the transformative results that its architects envision.