Innovate Manchester has announced the second innovation workshop in its 2022/2023 programme with Syngenta.

In this workshop, which will take place on Tuesday 11 October, Greater Manchester SMEs are invited to respond to a challenge around upskilling Syngenta’s employees to create a workforce of the future.

Syngenta is a leading science-based agtech company. It helps farmers to grow safe and nutritious food sustainably. It plays a vital role in supply chains and global food security by helping farmers adapt to the effects of climate change.

Global demand for Syngenta’s crop protection solutions is growing and the company’s footprint is expanding. With this growth comes new opportunities and challenges which include modernising ways of working.

Now, Syngenta is looking to partner with a Greater Manchester SME that can produce a learning model to improve employee capabilities in data literacy and digital ways of working to support the company’s strategic ambitions.

Crucially, the programme must be suitable for a manufacturing and shop floor environment. SMEs must advise on how to deliver this model in such settings as its not viable for Syngenta to take employees off the floor for training.

Syngenta has a number of partners who have proven ability to create the learning materials needed but none have been able to create a solution that can be delivered in the production environment without access to devices such as laptops or mobile phones.

Therefore, SMEs with experience in delivering training in restricted environments or creating tech solutions that work in manufacturing settings are invited to learn more at an Innovate Manchester workshop on 11 October.  

Eligible participants will be provided with further documentation of the training required and specific restrictions of the production site. Following the workshop, there will be the opportunity to pitch a solution to Syngenta, to be developed with the support of the GC Business Growth Hub Innovation team

Innovate Manchester is designed to find fresh ideas and tangible solutions to challenges faced by local businesses by bringing together organisations from all sectors and backgrounds.

Funded through the European Regional Development Fund and with the dedicated and ongoing support of MIDAS and the Business Growth Hub Innovation team, a series of four workshops will run from September 2022 to January 2023.

The Innovate Greater Manchester workshop will include representatives from Syngenta, a select number of SMEs, and specialists in this field from GC Business Growth Hub, MIDAS and local universities.

Register for the free-to-attend workshop here.

Find out more about the first Innovate Manchester AI and Consumer Technology Challenge Workshop in collaboration with MusicMagpie here.

For more information on the Innovate Manchester programme and eligibility criteria download the SME brochure.