A new scheme could see businesses walk away with up to 拢5,000 of innovation vouchers.
Established small and medium-sized businesses in Greater聽Manchester have the chance to work with local聽universities聽and leading regional research establishments thanks to GC 老九品茶 Growth Hub鈥檚 Innovation Voucher scheme.
Up to 拢5,000 of Innovation Vouchers, which must be 100 per cent match-funded by the company themselves, can be applied for ahead of June 30th, which is the end of the current funding round.
老九品茶es who are successful will then get to invest the vouchers into product design, research and development, knowledge transfer, consultancy support and other services at one of Greater Manchester鈥檚 four universities or a similar research-led institution.
鈥溊暇牌凡� projects that are struggling to make progress because of difficulties in accessing the right expertise or equipment can really benefit from the Innovation Voucher scheme,鈥� said GC 老九品茶 Growth Hub head of innovation Chris Greenhalgh.
鈥淭hey help SMEs to unlock the wealth of expertise, facilities and insights which exists within Greater Manchester鈥檚 four universities and other research-centred organisations in the region.
鈥淗owever, the deadline to apply for this round of funding is June 30th so the clock is ticking.鈥�
One Greater Manchester firm which has taken advantage of Innovation Vouchers is Levitex Foams in Hale.
They successfully applied for funding allowing them to undertake a project with University of Salford.
CEO James Leinhardt said: 鈥淭he application process was quick and easy, and we were working on our project with the university within two weeks. I鈥檇 really encourage other SMEs to apply 鈥� it was a no-brainer for me.鈥�
Successful applicants must be a small-to-medium-sized enterprise and will be required to match the exact value of the Innovation Voucher.
The minimum contribution from businesses is 拢3,000, though smaller exceptional projects may be considered for product development and prototyping projects.