News | Friday, 10th December 2021
Supporting North West business owners as they begin their sustainability journeys
Did you see that Manchester Metropolitan has been named as the UK’s most sustainable university?
We asked Enterprise Fellow Graeme Heyes for his thoughts on how our commitment to sustainability helps us to support small business owners as they begin their journeys…
Manchester Met has yet again finished top of the league table for sustainability in the People and Planet University Green League. This is a fantastic achievement that has seen us ranked against criteria such as carbon management, waste, education, ethical investments and more.
Manchester Met has been one of the most consistent performers in the annually published Green League. It demonstrates our commitment to cutting carbon emissions, working towards a zero-carbon future and putting sustainability at the heart of everything we do – be it across our teaching, our research or the engagement we do both with our students and the wider community.
Our engagement is exemplified by two projects we’re running, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Print City Network and Eco-Innovation North West.
Helping business owners to explore challenges as opportunities to innovate and develop
These projects are rooted in sustainable innovation and providing support to small and medium-sized businesses in Greater Manchester and the wider North West region. At the core of each project, is understanding the complex business challenges that SMEs face, and considering them through the lens of innovation, to see how such challenges can be reframed as opportunity. Both projects use our academic research and expertise in fields ranging from design innovation, circular economy, carbon literacy, business model innovation, and strategy.
In both Eco-I North West and Print City Network, we are deeply passionate about making a difference to the North West, and the UK, by ensuring that businesses can respond to the impacts of climate change, and the policies that are coming into force to help manage those impacts.
Supporting SMEs to develop new products, create zero-carbon plans, and reduce costs
Through these practical programmes, we take the very latest in research and delivery to deliver fun, engaging, and powerful workshops that can help businesses to:
- Develop new products and services and adopt future-ready business models that can reduce the carbon footprint of business operations.
- Create net-zero action plans that can guide organisations in the transition from current-practice to next-practice.
- Reduce costs and enhance performance.
- Create new revenue streams.
- Expand into new markets.
- Understand innovation and develop and implement in-house innovation processes and culture.
- Learn how to think creatively about business problems like a designer would.
- Grow networks by gaining access to our talented researchers and industry partners.
- In Print City Network, gain access to our world-class 3D printing facilities that can help solve product innovation challenges, and prototype new products before taking them to market.
The business landscape is changing and the transition to a low carbon economy is underway. These workshop-led programmes help businesses to understand how they can adapt to create solutions that are relevant to business needs and those of their stakeholders, ensuring that businesses are not just able to survive but thrive in a net-zero carbon and zero-waste world.
We’re passionate about helping micro and small businesses to respond to the climate emergency and would be delighted to hear from any parties interested in either project.
You can find out more about ECO-I North West here and PrintCity Network here.
