UK Shared Prosperity Fund – Supporting Local Business

As part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund programme in Greater Manchester, GMCA is looking to deliver the UKSPF Supporting Local Business investment priority E19, which aims to: “Increase investment in research and development at the local level. Investment to support the diffusion of innovation knowledge and activities. Support the commercialisation of ideas, encouraging collaboration and accelerating the path to market so that more ideas translate into industrial and commercial practices”.

GMCA will use the full allocation of £5.775m of funding available for E19 to procure a package of specialised support that strengthens the GM innovation ecosystem and accelerates innovation development, diffusion and commercialisation.

GMCA will establish and evaluate a new, integrated and specialised innovation ecosystem development service. This will provide specialist innovation provision that accelerates the development of innovation-focussed clusters, and an integrated service that integrates innovators and businesses into our innovation ecosystem and enables them to access multiple types of support for each phase of the innovation process or specific to their business needs.

The final specification for the service that will be produced as part of the procurement process will be guided by a number of high-level objectives and principles and has been influenced by the strategic context in GM, along with an evidence review, and consultation carried out by GMCA. The programme of delivery for E19 will collectively deliver against the output and outcomes targets for this intervention specified by Government and will also include innovation-specific outputs and outcomes that respond to consultation feedback.

The contract period for this opportunity is expected to run from October 2023 until March 2025. The Contract Notice is likely to be posted in Mid - Late July 2023.