Our RoadMap programme provides lean start-
up style training to take a technology or research
hypothesis into a venture. It too has seen a high
participation rate from female innovators. Dr
Laura Etchells, who leads the programme, said:
"Through Optimiser we aim to increase the
incidence and quality of start-ups arising from
the University's rich and diverse community and
to make it easier to start your own business.
We see more and more female entrepreneurs
stepping into the arena, it's important that we
build wide and diverse teams to tackle social
problems and build commercial success."
Amongst the staff and student led projects we
have supported so far there are a number of
innovative social and technology business led by
or featuring females in significant roles;-
Dr Magda Sibley – HiSolar Ltd, a social business
providing an innovative hybrid lighting system
that combines, within one element, daylighting
and off grid solar powered LED lighting for
heritage buildings and social housing.
Ruth Daniel – IPOW is a ground-breaking
Creative Entrepreneurial Programme that is
empowering the world's most marginalised
communities to create sustainable income and
social change through their creativity.
Amy Win – 4Lunch Ltd was established to
increase the confidence and employability of
people using the power of food in increasing the
health and wellbeing of communities, as well as
creating genuine employment opportunities.
Jenny Berry – Your Own Words is a poetry
programme developed from Jenny's research
project which is currently run in a Manchester-
based prison. Poetry is used in a therapeutic
way to help prisoners to express themselves
through creativity rather than physically
Drs Caroline Sanders, Sandra Bucci and Mrs
Charlotte Stockton Powdrell – are all co-
directors of ClinTouch an interactive and easy
to use mobile phone app that provides an
innovative new way of supporting people with
psychosis, a serious mental health disorder that
affects one in every 100 people.
Helen Power – director of Levenshulme Market
CIC, a social enterprise that was recently
selected as one of only three finalists in the
prestigious BBC Food and Farming Awards 2015
market category.
Professor Joanna Neill – Professor of
Psychopharmacology is developing b-neuro
a contract research organisation providing
cognition testing services for the
pharmaceutical industry.
Professor Anne Barton - Professor of
Rheumatology has created Inspiral Healthcare
which aims to develop better treatments and
diagnostics for musculoskeletal conditions.
Alison Edmonds – founder and director of
EpicSteps CIC, set up to develop confidence,
leadership, career awareness and social
responsibility in children aged 10-12yrs.
Dr Erinma Ochu MBE, Wellcome Trust
Engagement Fellow is developing FarmLab, a
pop up urban farm for Manchester as part of
the European City of Science 2016.
1 Source Phillips, K. (2014). How Diversity
Makes Us Smarter. Obtained from the Internet
at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/
how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/
INNOVATION
OPTIMISER
