Announced last night, the project unveiled its new name, Sister , in a celebration to mark the upcoming opening of the first building, the Renold Innovation Hub. A hub where the north west’s most exciting early-stage businesses will have streamlined access to the world-class expertise of the University.
Aligned to Sister’s four core specialisms - digital technology, health innovation, biotechnology, and advanced materials and manufacturing - IBIC are delighted to announce that we are one of the four catalysts that will be based in the Renold Innovation Hub, supporting spin-out and start-up businesses to grow and shape their offerings through specialist advice, training, and access to facilities and equipment.
Renold and the Sister site sits adjacent to the University campus, including the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology , opening up access to leading global experts, state-of-the-art facilities and collaboration opportunities that will help accelerate innovation and business growth.
We are excited to be part of this vibrant and collaborative community, that will bring like-minded individuals together, offer tailored training and support, bring in the local community, and create opportunities for all those involved.
We are thrilled to be part of this exciting venture between the University and our partners at Bruntwood SciTech. Our mission is to support the north west’s bioeconomy through bringing research out of the lab and into the real world. Having access to, and support from a community like Sister will be the catalyst we need realise this mission
The inspiration for the name Sister comes from a 1960s report into the UK’s higher education landscape. The Robbins Report was put before government in 1963 with various recommendations to improve higher education. All of its recommendations were accepted, bar one; the recommendation to create "Special Institutions for Scientific and Technological Education and Research". The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was earmarked to become a SISTER. But it never was.
60 years later, on that same site, the vision of Sister was realised, reimagined for the 21 century, and carefully thought out to support and solve the challenges of translating research into application.
