The University of Salford is celebrating the impact of its partnerships with businesses, organisations and charities in shaping a more resilient economy in Greater Manchester and beyond.
Through collaborative partnerships, the University aligns academic expertise with real-world challenges, translating cutting-edge research into practical solutions that help businesses to grow, adapt and future-proof.
Professor Francine Morris, Associate Dean of Knowledge Exchange, said: “In an era where innovation is the driving force behind economic growth and industrial competitiveness, the collaboration between academia and industry has never been more critical.
“Our collaborations help businesses solve their most pressing challenges, create jobs and support growth across our region and beyond. By working together, we are stronger and in a much better position to realise the aims of national industrial strategies.”
The University’s legacy of collaboration stretches back over half a century, as one of the first universities to pilot Innovate UK’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme 50 years ago, which aims to bring together industry with academic expertise. Its Knowledge Transfer Partnership projects have generated a projected return on investment of over 600% over the last decade.
Oliver Farrell, Managing Director at Farratt – an engineering company that has been collaborating with Salford – said: Our relationship with Salford has been going strong for a good ten years now. It’s no exaggeration to say they really helped us go from a proud engineering company to an advanced engineering specialist.
“For us as a small-medium enterprise, there are limits to what we can provide, but the link to the University of Salford has enabled us to project ourselves to become much more of a technology-driven organisation, which will have much more of an impact in the wider world.”
Universities are hubs of groundbreaking research and knowledge exchange, and their role as collaborators is vital in fuelling both local and global economies. By working together, academia and industry are better positioned to realise the goals of national industrial strategies and shape a more prosperous, sustainable future for all.
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