Research & Development
An Original Modern Past
The Corridor is home to world-leading research & development and is a place synonymous with innovation, collaboration and forward thinking. Manchester is steeped in history that has contributed to the world – it is in Manchester’s Chetham’s Library that Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, would sit and debate the concepts that would lead Marx’s world changing manifesto. Engels had been living in Manchester where the industrial revolution had taken hold with the mechanisation of textile manufacture, and the power of the steam engine found its home.
It is out of this history of original-modern thinking that the Corridor now forges concepts, discoveries, inventions and businesses of the future. Today there are hundreds of businesses that locate themselves on or near the Corridor so they can benefit from unique collaborative partnerships.
Atoms and other big things
The University of Manchester has an exceptional record of generating and sharing new ideas and innovations. Many of the advances of the 20th century began at the University, such as the work by Rutherford leading to the splitting of the atom and the developments of the world’s first modern computer in 1948. Graphene, at 3mm thick is the world’s thinnest material and is the next small big-thing brought to the world by the University.
The University’s total expenditure on research has grown by around 31% from £308m in 2004-5 to £405m in 2008-9. And According to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, The University of Manchester is now one of the country’s major research universities, rated third in the UK in terms of ‘research power’ behind only Oxford and Cambridge.
The University of Manchester has generated more than 100 spin-out companies and has concluded more than 150 technology licences. And more than £170 million has been provided by third-party investments and grants to the University’s spin-out companies and IP projects since 1995.
Europe’s largest dedicated spin-out Seed Fund was set-up by the University in 2008 – The UMIP Premier Fund – with a value of £32 million, which has invested in seven of the University’s spin-out companies and ten proof-of-principle projects to date. In September 2010, the fund won the All Stars “Equity Gap Fund of the Year” award.
To learn more about the University’s research & development work, click here
From Aviation to Performance to Health
Manchester Metropolitan University is committed to matching its reputation for teaching with parallel excellence in research. The University sits within the top five per cent of UK universities for exercise and sport science and within the top 12% for materials science. It is ranked fourth among research-active new universities in attracting support from the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
The University’s research activity is structured around eight research institutes:
Clinical Research & Collaborations
With excellent facilities and internationally renowned researchers, the Central Manchester University Hopsitals NHS Foundation Trust is gaining a global reputation for pioneering research in areas such as genetics and developmental medicine.
In partnership with The University of Manchester and other collaborators, the CMFT is rapidly making Manchester the centre of cutting-edge research to improve healthcare worldwide. In April 2008 the trust was officially designated as a specialist centre of excellence in genetics and developmental medicine on receiving the title of the Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) from the National Institute for Health Research.
The Research and Innovation Division manages and co-ordinates the infrastructure and resources that are used to support research in the Trust. Through TrusTECH and the North West NHS Innovation Hub, the division also helps staff to identify and protect innovative technologies and services that can be commercialised or shared to improve patient care.
Manchester BRC links the Trust and The University of Manchester to form Europe’s largest clinical academic campus, which translates research discoveries into patient benefits.
To find out more about the CMFT’s research & innovation work, visit the hospital research websites:
- Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital
- University Dental Hospital of Manchester
- Manchester Royal Eye Hospital
- Manchester Royal Infirmary
- Saint Mary’s Hospital
Or visit the CMFT’s research & innovation website
Location, Location, Location
Innovative businesses locate themselves on or near the Corridor so they can work with our partners; immersing themselves in the networked and collaborative environment that is the Corridor. Manchester Science Parks has been home to many of these businesses for over 25 years.
More traditional office space can be found all along the Corridor, from small offices in the creative environment of Knotts Mills to high-spec accomodation such as that provided by Bruntwood with, for example, their Corridor-based Manchester Technology Centre; to visit Bruntwood’s website click here