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The Northwest Regional Development Agency has awarded £930,000 to five academic institutions to help students and graduates turn their ideas into viable businesses.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has awarded £930,000 to five universities to help students and graduates turn their ideas into viable businesses.

NWDA selected Manchester Metropolitan University to pilot its ‘enterprise champions' initiative to boost the regional economy, with Salford, Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores and Cumbria universities sharing the remainder of the fund.

The money will pay for enterprise champions to offer guidance and support to turn ideas into real enterprises via student and graduate business incubator Innospace at MMU Business School.

Innospace helps start-up businesses to thrive, offering low-cost office space in central Manchester, professional mentoring and a range of workshops.

Steven Broomhead, chief executive at the NWDA, said: ‘We have an enterprise gap in the North West.

‘We need more business start-ups.

‘This exciting project will support fresh ideas at an early stage and encourage graduates to take their entrepreneurial plans forward to profit-making businesses.’

The project is being spearheaded nationally by the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship.