Lancaster University is to establish a £7.1 million low-carbon R&D programme to support SMEs in Lancashire, Cumbria, Cheshire and Liverpool.

The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation will oversee more than 50 long-term projects involving graduate researchers working full-time at host companies, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Individual projects can be worth up to £100,000 in value.

Andy Pickard, manager of the Centre, said: “On offer are research opportunities for regional businesses, enabling them to develop and make the transition to a lower-carbon economy.

“SMEs may have a low-carbon research idea that will help them to grow, but they may not have the capacity to undertake the work themselves.

The new centre’s funded research projects give them the chance to pursue these opportunities, helping to spark economic growth and job creation.

“We already have projects proposed to look into a variety of subjects, including new ways to deal with Japanese knot-weed, innovative approaches to measuring air quality, insulation in buildings, the re-wetting of coastal
land to store carbon, and energy generation from small-scale hydro installations.”