Made Smarter Adoption North West has secured an additional £230,000 from the Department for Business and Trade to help Oldham-based SME manufacturers adopt transformational technologies including sensors, robotics and 3D printers.

The funding will support at least 10 new companies seeking to increase productivity, drive growth, create high-value jobs and support decarbonisation through digital transformation. This allocation comes as the programme prepares to continue from April 2025 as part of the Government’s £16 million expansion into all English regions.

Alain Dilworth, Programme Manager, said: “I am delighted that DBT have allocated a further £230k of in-year funding to Made Smarter Adoption North West. The majority will go towards supporting our strong pipeline of companies to adopt new digital tools to accelerate their digital transformation. The opportunity to be able to support more manufacturing and engineering SMEs is something we relish, and we urge those companies who have yet to make contact with us to do so.”

The programme, which celebrates its seventh anniversary in January, has engaged with 2,500 companies and provided technology advice to over 500 individual businesses. To date, 330 companies have secured more than £7 million in grants to invest in 379 technology projects, backed by £18 million of their own investment. This £25 million total investment is forecast to create over 1,700 new jobs, upskill 3,200 existing roles, and add £267 million GVA to the economy over the next three years.

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