Manchester announces first tenant and new name for innovation district

Manchester has announced its first tenant in the newly renamed Sister innovation district and neighbourhood.

The £1.7-billion district will be home to Sustainable Ventures, a climate tech hub, which will officially move into the Renold Building in November. 

Previously known as ID Manchester, Sister is a joint venture between The University of Manchester and Bruntwood SciTech. The project will see the transformation of the University’s former North campus into a 370,000 square metre innovation zone.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said that Sister will become a thriving area at the heart of Greater Manchester.

“With the Renold Building opening and welcoming its first occupier, we’re seeing the first signs of what this area will become – a home for start-ups, innovation-led businesses, universities, researchers and investors, where the clustering effect helps create jobs and opportunities. Our city-region has been a centre of scientific and technological innovation for two centuries and places like Sister are where the next chapter of that story is written.”

Sister will specialise in advancing innovation across sectors including digital tech, health innovation, biotechnology, advanced materials and manufacturing. The organisation said it will provide access to facilities, connecting early-stage high growth potential businesses with investors, while creating a collaborative ecosystem that enables UK and global businesses to benefit from cutting edge innovation.

A number of university innovation initiatives at the Renold Building will include the Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester, accelerating the growth of AI-start-ups; the Christabel Pankhurst Institute for health technology research and innovation; and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst, a cross-sector collaboration to empower the growth of biotechnology businesses.

Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The fact that Sister will ultimately create 10,000 jobs and add £1.5 billion a year to the city’s economy underlines its scale and the sheer ambition behind this major new district. This development will add to Manchester’s thriving innovation ecosystem and, true to the heritage of a site from which great ideas and innovations have previously sprung, will help keep the city in the forefront of future innovation.”

Image: Sister