Greater Manchester cityscape

Digital Strategy


The Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint

In Greater Manchester, we remain committed to being a digital city-region with a difference. By putting people, the environment and place at the heart of our plans, we aim for a more inclusive and sustainable approach that builds on our greatest assets.

Originally launched in February 2020, in May 2023 we refreshed our Digital Blueprint. The Blueprint identifies five digital priorities and four strategic enablers, developed in collaboration with stakeholders from across Greater Manchester’s digital sector, who share our strategic commitments. 

The Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint 2023-26 (PDF, 11.3MB)

The Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint 2023-26 (Word doc, 56KB)

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Our digital priorities

Within the Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint we set out our digital priorities, which are now clearly focused on delivering benefits that help our city-region's people lead healthier and happier lives. Each of our priorities – co-designed and developed with the input of key stakeholders - are supported by pan - Greater Manchester public sector projects. These combine with inclusive community, local authority, private, not-for-profit and academic work.

Empowering people and communities

Ensuring everyone can benefit from the opportunities digital brings.
Large group of professionals from the Greater Manchester digital sector stood together

Building responsible, data driven public services

Reforming and renewing public services with the needs of Greater Manchester
Image of a building with text on it reading Graphene Engineering

Digitally enabling a resilient and prosperous economy

Enabling businesses to use tech better and support the creation and scaling of digital organisation
Open office floor with people working at computers

Creating connected, inclusive, sustainable places

Creating resilient, connected, accessible and sustainable places for everyone
Person holding a toy car up to a robot

Strengthening our position as a global digital influencer

To be further acknowledged as a global centre of digital innovation, research and practice

Our strategic enablers

Greater Manchester will lead the way in empowering its residents and business to access digital skills opportunities and support.

  • The diverse and thriving VCSE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) sector is building the digital skills and capacity of communities through informal and community learning partnerships  
  • Partners from across sectors are collaborating through the Digital Inclusion Action Network and Digital Inclusion Taskforce to collectively address barriers that exclude people from engaging with digital skills support 
  • Adult Education flexibilities enable direct investment in localities to increase engagement with digital skills provision, informal and entry level digital learning and enhancements to the local digital skills offer to include level 2 qualifications 
  • Collaboration with FutureDotNow (external website) to raise understanding of the importance of essential digital skills and upskilling across all sectors, connecting businesses with resources and support to develop lifelong learning, digital skills and leadership of their workforce  
  • GMCA are leveraging social value of public sector digital infrastructure investment to enhance digital skills support for communities and schools 
  • Social prescribing and community-based support and mentoring is helping everyone to gain essential digital skills that are increasingly needed in society 

Our vision is to create a critical mass of digital talent, positioning Greater Manchester as the key place for businesses seeking a digitally-skilled workforce to invest in outside of London.

We will:

  • Inspire young people to think about a career in digital and give them the skills and confidence to do it
  • Future-proof the tech talent pipeline; connecting education and industry through harnessing real role models and industry mentors
  • Ensure that the system of post-16 technical education in Greater Manchester provides young people with a clear pathway defined by employers into all priority digital/ tech occupations
  • Address the immediate digital skills shortage and support employers to diversify their workforce through developing a new model of reskilling and retraining

Main projects:

  • Go Digital (GMCA with Digital Advantage, Hive Learning and InnovateHer) 
  • Digital Futures (GMCA with Manchester Digital and partners) 
  • Fast Track Digital Workforce Fund

Greater Manchester continues to develop its world leading digital infrastructure to stimulate and enable economic growth, attract investment and enable the online offer of services and digital participation to our people. 

  • Connection to backbone of Global Internet with transatlantic connection to Manchester Internet Exchange 
  • Gigabit coverage (80.9%) well above UK average (73%) 
  • 41% premises with full fibre connection  
  • Greater Manchester’s largest UK public sector Local Full Fibre Network Programme and GM One Network - the largest civic network of its kind in Europe - will enable multi-agency working and data sharing as well as achieving substantial economic efficiencies for the public sector.  
  • Greater Manchester has powerful technology and data assets which can be used to transform public services and drive planning, decision-making and effectively target resources including Greater Manchester Digital Platform, data mesh, Mapping GM (external website) and CCTV and sensors. 

Greater Manchester has an ambitious plan to use innovation to level up. 

  • The digital ecosystem is part of a broader innovation ecosystem that brings together businesses, universities, R&D institutions and public sector agencies to stimulate and support innovation across our city-region for the benefit of all our businesses, people and communities 
  • GM’s innovation plan (Innovation GM)’s vision is that by 2030, dynamic and connected R&D intensive business clusters centred on our frontier sectors, including digital, creative and tech, will fuel productivity growth and prosperity across the North. Our Innovation Plan lays out a clear approach to achieving this 
  • Greater Manchester has leading academic and research assets and anchor businesses that are working collaboratively with SMEs including start-ups, supported by public sector institutions, to  identify new opportunities for digital products and services 
  • This ‘triple helix’ of industry-academia-public sector is well-established in Greater Manchester, and we will work to enhance and support this activity, including the IGM targets to increase business and public sector R&D, as a critical enabler of the blueprint priorities

 

View user journey stories of how some of our people across our region access our digital services.

Read stories of how are people are being empowered through digital with our case studies.