A new £400k green innovation fund has been launched to help Sandbach SMEs transform their ideas into reality in the race to net zero.

Businesses, charities and social enterprises can get up to 60 per cent funding towards projects worth £25,000 to help them deliver sustainable products, processes or services.

The £400,000 grant scheme is managed by Eco-I North West (NW), a £14 million research and development programme which gives SMEs access to a regional knowledge base, cutting-edge research facilities and skills involving six of the region's leading universities - Cumbria, Lancaster, Central Lancashire, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester Metropolitan.

Since its launch two years ago, more than 100 enterprises, including 12 in Cheshire, have collaborated with universities to test their ideas which could help solve global challenges such as water supply and quality, waste, energy, resource efficiency, natural capital, air quality, and food security.

Net zero is when a business achieves a balance between the carbon emitted into the atmosphere, and the carbon removed from it.

Biotech Services, based in Arclid near Sandbach, is a manufacturer exploring the use of extracted organic production waste to create new products such as fabrics, regenerative medicine, biodegradable packaging and batteries.

Steve Price, Managing Director, said: "We are delighted to be involved in Eco-I North West, and working with Lancaster University to research how biomaterials can be used for novel biotechnological applications.

"The project research aims to build upon our expertise on the valorisation of agricultural waste. It aims to utilise different agricultural waste feedstocks, gaining understanding and maximising their true value as potential sources of renewable materials."

These new grants will accelerate these low carbon innovations from research to commercialisation by match funding prototypes, pilots and demonstration systems.

Andy Pickard, Manager of the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, which delivers the Eco-I NW programme, said: "Eco-I NW opens up such a huge academic regional resource to SMEs.

"It offers the opportunity for the North West to create an ecosystem which accelerates our transition to a low carbon economy. This is a scheme which should allow businesses to access grants quickly and try new things.

"I would encourage leaders of SME enterprises in the North West to start a conversation with us about how Eco-I NW could help to reduce costs and their carbon footprint, improve performance, and future proof their business in a low carbon future.

"More than 100 enterprises from a wide range of sectors, disciplines and project themes are already collaborating with the partner universities and could double their potential return on R&D investment.

"These grants will further support those already working with the universities, and expand the benefits Eco-I NW can offer to even more SMEs to bring to market even more sustainable products, processes or services."

Eco-I NW aims to work with more than 300 SMEs, supporting the development of 135 new innovative solutions which will save 3,850 tonnes of CO2.

To find out more about the programme, which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/eco-i-nw/capital-grant-scheme/