Foundational Economy Innovation Fund


The Fund

The Foundational Economy Innovation Fund is now open for applications

Submit an application for the Foundational Economy Innovation Fund (external website)

Download our Quick Guide to the Fund (PDF, 313KB)

Download a more detailed Guidance for Applicants pack (including privacy notice) (PDF, 458KB)

Download the Foundational Economy Innovation Fund: Round 2 application form questions (PDF, 455KB)

Download a list of alternative support providers (PDF, 88KB)

The fund is providing grants for businesses and organisations working in Greater Manchester’s foundational economy - including the health and social care, early education and childcare, and the local high street (retail, hospitality, culture, leisure and tourism) sectors - to trial new ideas and become more resilient. Initial grants of up to £11,000 are available.

Meet the Funder Event

Watch a recording of our 'Meet the funder' webinar to learn more about the fund, discover how you can benefit from the available funding and contribute to Greater Manchester's foundational economy.

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Download the 'Meet the funder' event presentation slides (PPTX, 1MB)

The Foundational Economy 

The foundational economy supplies the essential goods and services we all rely on for our daily needs.

In Greater Manchester, it accounts for over 42% of jobs and is made up of more than 60,000 businesses.

It has a big effect on the levels of innovation and business sustainability, employment practices, the quality of work available, and income levels across Greater Manchester.

However, businesses and organisations struggle to attract investment from the private sector, and conversations about innovation tend to focus on industries seen as high-growth.

Greater Manchester's ground-breaking Foundational Economy Innovation Fund has been established to address this issue.

The Sectors and Challenges

The Foundational Economy Innovation fund is in its second iteration, focusing on supporting projects in sub-set of the sectors that encompass the foundational economy as a whole:

  • Health and social care

  • Early education and childcare (0-5 years)

  • The local high street (retail, hospitality, culture, leisure and tourism)

New for Round 2 – Sector-specific challenges

Building on what we've learned from Round 1 of the Fund, we've identified key challenges affecting our priority sectors. For Round 2, we’re keen to see applications for projects that could address these key challenges. However, unlike the three challenge areas identified during Round 1, we are inviting only businesses working in or supporting the identified sectors to put forward project ideas addressing one of the identified key challenges.

The specific challenges for the Health and Social Care sector are:

  • Innovations that could support the role of technology and digital solutions in enabling care, including supporting people through the utilisation of technology

  • Innovations that could keep people well in the community, reducing demand on primary, secondary, and specialist care

The specific challenges for the Early Education and Childcare sector are:

  • Innovations that could increase the supply of early education places in areas where a need has been identified

  • Innovations that could contribute to developing the pipeline of level 3 qualified staff in the early education and childcare workforce

The specific challenges for The Local High Street sector are:

  • Innovations that could increase recycling rates in food-based hospitality

  • Innovations that could improve capacity for financial management

  • Innovations that could support better utilisation of underused buildings or facilities

Challenge areas

We are interested in funding projects that test new and emerging ideas across one or more of the following challenge areas:

Innovations that help with developing, recruiting, and retaining staff. This could include new ways of upskilling the workforce, improving progression routes, or providing greater flexibility of working patterns and security of hours worked. This could also include finding new ways to connect employers and potential employees, including the self-employed and those who have struggled to find stable work, particularly individuals experiencing inequalities. This does not include using funds to subsidise staff to conduct business as usual activity, the use of monetary incentives, or the purchasing of wellbeing services.

Innovations that help create or integrate new ways of delivering your current services or products to a higher standard by doing things more efficiently and effectively. This could include re-thinking your approach to resourcing, organising work, and the adoption or development of technology. This is not about expanding or fundamentally changing the services or products you provide, but instead doing what you do already, better.

Innovations that support local, sustainable, and circular supply chains. Circular supply chains being those that share, lease, reuse, repair, refurbish, and recycle existing materials and products for as long as possible within Greater Manchester. Innovations that reduce or manage energy consumption and carbon emissions, including via the development and testing of new technology, as well as new systems and initiatives to use and share resources more efficiently or reduce the use of resources.

Previous Projects

The first round of the Foundational Economy Innovation Fund backed 40 entrepreneurs, businesses and organisations. Find out more about the projects in the Foundational Economy Innovation Fund Yearbook and case studies. 

Read the Foundational Economy Innovation Fund 2023-24 Yearbook (PDF, 5.2MB)

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Made By Mortals – reimagining social care training

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