Greater Manchester (GM) was once the engine room of the Industrial Revolution. Now, Mayor Andy Burnham has set out an ambition to reindustrialise the region again, this time through five globally competitive clusters: the creative industries, health innovation and life sciences, digital, cyber and AI, low carbon technologies, and advanced materials and manufacturing. The goal is simple but bold. Create high‑value jobs, boost productivity, and keep GM as the UK’s fastest‑growing city region.
Investment is flowing and ‘shovel‑ready’ projects are being lined up. But the real test won’t be the number of new buildings or announcements, it will be whether innovation actually sticks here. Whether ideas become products. Whether research becomes manufacturing. Whether SMEs can scale, not just start.
As the MD of an established Bury‑based chemical distributor and contract toll manufacturer, I see this challenge and opportunity every day. Manufacturing is still a major part of GM’s identity, with more than 2,500 manufacturers operating across the region. Businesses like the Rakem Group provide skilled jobs, develop talent, and support critical supply chains in advanced materials, coatings, polymers and more. We’re part of the story but we could be an even bigger part of the solution.
GM is fortunate to have world‑class universities, research institutes, and high‑value R&D assets. These are seen as the backbone of a thriving innovation ecosystem. Yet the reality is more uneven.
- GM’s R&D investment in 2023 was £985m – just 1% of GVA, compared with 2% nationally
- UKRI investment per person is significantly lower than in London
- Economic growth is concentrated in central Manchester, while northern boroughs—including Bury towns like Ramsbottom, Whitefield and Prestwich—lag far behind
- Skills and educational attainment remain below the national average, limiting productivity and deepening deprivation
Attracting activity and investment is important, but it’s not enough. Too often, time and energy are spent on new facilities that SMEs find hard to access, or innovation programmes designed around academia rather than business. If we want reindustrialisation to be more than a slogan, we need to ensure entrepreneurs and SMEs can build, scale, and make in Greater Manchester. That’s how value stays in the region and in the North.
This is where the idea of ‘sticky innovation’ matters. For me, sticky innovation means creating the conditions where ideas, materials, processes, and businesses don’t just emerge here they stay here because the ecosystem helps them grow. It’s about making innovation practical, accessible, and commercially beneficial in the long run.
Innovation isn’t an abstract concept for most SMEs. It’s the day‑to‑day work of solving customer problems improving performance, reducing costs, meeting sustainability targets. It’s not just what we make, it’s about how we operate.
And innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It comes from getting out of the building and talking to customers, suppliers, peers, universities, local authorities, and industry bodies. Knowledge transfer, shared experiences, access to facilities – these are the things that make innovation stick. But this is also where the system often breaks down and too many dots remain unconnected.
We need to be far better at linking entrepreneurs, SMEs, larger manufacturers, researchers, and facilities. Not just through new buildings, but by unlocking the capacity already sitting within our business community. Reindustrialisation will not be driven top‑down it will come from the ground up, from businesses and it would be great that our brilliant SMEs are recognised as key parts of the region’s innovation ecosystem.
In January, I walked into a meeting room on Oxford Street in the heart of Manchester as a new member of Graphene, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Alliance (GAMMA) Board. It was my first meeting, and I saw two other Bury business leaders sitting alongside me who are both leading brilliant businesses with passion and care. It was a reminder of the strength of our local manufacturing base and the shared desire to support each other.
By supporting businesses to find their way through the landscape, connect with the right people and commercialise their ideas, we give innovation a clear route to market. And with that foundation in place, the vision of a reindustrialised Greater Manchester and a thriving north becomes entirely within reach.
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