By Professor John Holden, Vice-President for Civic Engagement & Innovation and CEO – Unit M, and Professor Aline Miller, Associate Vice President for Enterprise and Chief Scientific Officer – Unit M 

The spotlight is increasingly on Manchester as one of Europe’s leading innovation cities. 

Across our city-region, we are seeing growing strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials, health innovation, digital and AI, clean growth and creative industries. The city is attracting talent, investment and attention from around the world. The question for us is how we can harness this opportunity and create one of Europe’s leading innovation ecosystems. 

The University of Manchester has a critical role to play. 

We are our region’s largest innovation asset. We have world-class research, exceptional students, a growing community of founders and entrepreneurs, and deep partnerships across business, government and education. In 2024/25, we generated nearly £120 million in innovation income and continued to strengthen our position as one of the UK’s leading universities for innovation. 

The University has internationally leading strengths in every aspect of what it does, but our greatest opportunity lies in our ability to bring those strengths together. 

Last year we launched From Manchester, for the world, our strategy to 2035. It set an ambitious vision: to become Europe’s most impactful and inclusive innovation ecosystem. Leading this ambition is Unit M, the University’s gateway to innovation, with a mission to unleash our full potential by connecting people, ideas and opportunities across the University and beyond, helping unlock greater impact from Manchester’s strengths in research, teaching, enterprise and partnership.  

Today, we’re pleased to share our Innovation Delivery Plan, the next step in turning that ambition into action. 

This plan matters because innovation is one of the most powerful ways we deliver on our purpose as a university. It is how we turn research into real-world impact. It is how we create opportunities for students. It is how we help solve challenges facing Manchester, the UK and the world. 

Crucially, it is how we ensure that the benefits of knowledge, creativity and discovery reach more people at pace and at scale. Innovation thrives when different perspectives come together and our goal is to create a culture where everyone feels empowered, enabled, equipped and encouraged to participate. 

What this plan is 

This is a shared roadmap rather than a detailed operational plan, setting out where we will focus our effort over the next three years. 

It is built around three priorities: 

• Providing clearer, faster pathways to collaborate and grow ideas. 

• Building a thriving innovation community across the University. 

• Growing our innovation ecosystem through regional, national and global partnerships. 

Together, these priorities will create a more connected, visible and impactful innovation community. 

What we’ve heard 

The Innovation Delivery Plan has been shaped through extensive conversations with colleagues, students and partners from across the University and beyond. 

A consistent message emerged. People recognise our extraordinary strengths but believe we could unlock greater impact by working in a more connected way. 

You told us you wanted innovation to feel easier to navigate, with clearer routes to support, stronger connections between existing activities and more opportunities to collaborate across disciplines. Partners told us they wanted it to be easier to access the University’s expertise, talent and facilities. 

Those conversations reinforced the importance of taking a One University approach – joining up our capabilities while building on the distinctive strengths that already exist across faculties, professional services and partner organisations. 

Three things you should know 

1. Everyone can innovate

One of the most important shifts in this plan is how we think about innovation. 

Too often, innovation is seen as something that happens after research, or as the responsibility of specialist teams. In reality, innovation can take many forms: new technologies, new services, new partnerships, new policies, new approaches to teaching, and new ways of tackling societal challenges. 

Our ambition is to make innovation part of everyday life at the University, creating more opportunities for staff and students to develop ideas, build entrepreneurial skills, work with partners and create impact beyond our campuses. 

The future success of our innovation strategy depends on more people seeing innovation as something they can participate in, shape and benefit from. 

2. Making it easier to innovate

We heard clearly that people want simpler, faster and more visible routes into innovation. 

Over the next three years, we will make it easier to access funding, advice, facilities, mentoring, partnerships and opportunities. We will bring together our innovation assets more effectively, simplify how people engage with support and create a clearer route from ideas to impact.  

As part of this work, the University has launched Shaping the Future of Our Innovation Services, a strategic review that will examine how innovation services work together across the University and how they can best support our ambitions over the next decade. Its aim is to create a more connected, user-centred innovation system that is easier for colleagues, students and partners to navigate, and that helps us seize new opportunities and make a bigger impact. 

The University Executive has agreed that Unit M will become the University’s innovation directorate. It will bring innovation leadership together and make sure innovation is woven through research, teaching, social responsibility and external engagement. With closer links to Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange and with the Innovation Factory, and the Professional Services Office for Social Responsibility team joining the unit, more people at the University will be enabled to generate tangible impact from their research, teaching and social responsibility activities. That in turn will support student recruitment, financial sustainability, our civic mission and our response to a changing research funding landscape. 

3. Building the ecosystem around us

The University sits at the centre of one of the UK’s most dynamic innovation environments. But achieving our ambition requires us to think beyond institutional boundaries. 

The most successful innovation ecosystems are built through collaboration between universities, businesses, investors, entrepreneurs, public services, communities and civic leaders. Our role is not just to participate in those relationships, but to help convene and strengthen them. 

That is why partnerships such as Sister, Atom Valley, the Greater Manchester Civic University Agreement, Innovation GM, and The Cambridge x Manchester Partnership are so important. 

Our ambition is to become the university to partner with – helping connect people, ideas and opportunities in ways that create greater impact for Manchester and beyond. 

What you’ll see happening next 

A strategy succeeds if people can see it making a difference. Over the next 12 months, you’ll start to see: 

• Progress on a more joined up innovation service, making it easier to find support and opportunities. 

• New funding, mentoring and venture-building support to help colleagues and student founders take ideas further. 

• Expanded entrepreneurship and partner-enabled learning opportunities for more students. 

• Increased support for cross-disciplinary participation in challenge-led innovation activity. 

• Co-development of regional innovation and skills policies, programmes and opportunities with partners including the Civic University Board, Innovation GM, Health Innovation Manchester and NHS Trusts. 

• Continued growth of PhD by Enterprise and stronger collaboration with external partners. 

• William Kay House becoming a focal point for innovation, collaboration and community-building on campus. 

What this means for you 

Building an innovation ecosystem is a collective effort. Whether you work in research, teaching, professional services or external engagement, there is a role for you to play. 

You may have an idea that could create impact beyond the University. You may be developing a partnership with an external organisation. You may support students to develop entrepreneurial ambitions. Or you may help connect colleagues with opportunities and expertise. 

Join the conversation 

The Innovation Delivery Plan marks an important milestone, but our approach will continue to evolve as we learn, test new approaches and respond to a changing external environment. 

We are excited by what lies ahead and by the opportunity in front of us. Manchester has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to establish itself as one of Europe’s leading innovation ecosystems. This plan sets out how we will help make that happen. 

We’d welcome you contacting us at hello@unit-m.co.uk or hearing your thoughts, questions and ideas in the comments below.  

More to come 

The Innovation Delivery Plan is part of a wider programme turning From Manchester, for the World into action. Colleagues have already seen the International and Research plans, and the Teaching and Learning plan will follow soon, completing the picture of how we will deliver our 2035 ambitions. 

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