Greater Manchester has published a plan to move the city region from a leading UK innovation economy to a globally recognised innovation hub by 2035.
The 2035 Greater Manchester Innovation Plan was launched on 21 October 2026 by Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig and Andrew Hodgson, chair of Innovation Greater Manchester, at the Greater Manchester Innovation Expo, hosted by the GM Business Growth Hub, according to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
Five pillars and £50m
The plan is built around five pillars: creating a world-class environment for commercialising innovation, making the innovation system easier to navigate, accelerating innovation investment, building an innovation-ready workforce, and attracting commercial innovation from around the world.
Its next phase will invest £50m through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund from 2026 to 2031, delivered by the UK Government through UK Research and Innovation. In Greater Manchester the money will be used to take ideas from prototype to market in advanced materials and manufacturing, health innovation and applied AI. The GMCA said this is backed by almost £10m for an Innovation Navigation Service and £5m for a Further Education Innovation Programme across the city region’s nine colleges.
Since the 2022 Local Innovation Plan, the GMCA said, the £43m Innovation Accelerator has supported 10 projects, brought 218 products and services to market, created 186 jobs and secured £53m in private co-investment.
Bev Craig said: “A more innovative economy means more jobs, higher wages and better living standards for people in Greater Manchester.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the plan “sets out an exciting vision to turn a new generation of brilliant ideas into jobs, growth and opportunity across the city-region”.
The GMCA named two companies as examples. Vector Homes used support from the Growth Hub and university facilities to develop a prototype eco-home and a graphene-enhanced product, and has leveraged more than £600,000. Diagnostics company QIAGEN has set up its European Centre of Excellence for Precision Medicine at CityLabs.
The launch came days after Hexaware committed to 420 jobs at Sister. More Manchester technology news is in our tech section.