Today we are publishing the Greater Manchester Science and Innovation Audit 2025. The audit, developed by Steer Economic Development and DMS Research and Consulting, presents refreshed analysis of Greater Manchester’s science, technology and innovation strengths and assets. It identifies the key capabilities that can drive accelerated growth in the city-region and deliver on the Greater Manchester Strategy’s vision of a thriving city-region where everyone can live a good life.
We would like to thank all those that were involved in the audit’s development, which is already playing a key role in shaping the Local Innovation Partnership Fund and Innovation Greater Manchester and our partners are integrating the report’s findings and recommendations into our work.
The objectives in commissioning the refresh were three-fold:
1. Deliver an up-to-date assessment of the region’s science, technology and innovation capabilities;
2. Identify opportunities and challenges faced by the innovation ecosystem in Greater Manchester; and
3. Take a wider approach than the original audit, particularly considering private sector strengths and inclusive innovation, which focuses on equitable benefits across all of society.
This report builds on the Greater Manchester and Cheshire East Science and Innovation Audit 2016, using a broader definition of innovation and its impacts which recognises that science and technology-based innovation remains fundamental to generating new ideas, products and services. Therefore, this study takes a wider ecosystem view, more explicitly capturing innovation led by the private sector and innovation benefiting the public sector.
Crucially, the report considers the wider benefits of innovation, beyond driving economic growth only. It considers the societal impacts innovation can have on people and communities– both through creating growth, but also through ensuring that benefit is shared equitably across all of society.
The analysis shows that GM’s innovation ecosystem has progressed significantly since 2016, with substantial new assets and a more structured, coherent and strategically aligned set of shared priorities. This trajectory reflects deliberate investment in hard and soft infrastructure, clearer alignment with national and regional priorities, and stronger collaborative working.
Despite this progress, challenges persist. These include a shortage of specialist grow-on space near universities and innovation clusters; underrepresentation of R&D-intensive private sector anchor firms; and a lack of long-term revenue certainty for translational assets and programmes.
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