The project Accelerating Impact-Led Graphene Entrepreneurship won a Highly Commended 2026 Making a Difference Award for Outstanding contribution to social and environmental impact through entrepreneurship.  

The project focuses on helping researchers turn graphene discoveries into products and technologies that create positive social and environmental impact. Through the Graphene Innovation Engineering Centre (GEIC), the project provides researchers with specialist support, facilities and expertise to help them develop and validate new technologies, build prototypes, test materials at scale and prepare for commercial growth. By supporting this journey from research to application, the project has supported more than 70 graphene start-ups originated from the University of Manchester. 

The University has an extraordinary research base, but what makes Manchester particularly exciting is the willingness to connect that research with industry and entrepreneurship. 

What are some impacts of your project you are especially proud of? 

Ivan Buckley, Business Development Officer at GEIC, says the project’s impact lies in helping innovations move beyond the laboratory and into the real world. By supporting companies through their growth journey, GEIC helps ideas develop into practical solutions that can create positive change. 

Graphene Innovations Manchester, for example, is developing ultra-low-carbon graphene-enhanced construction materials, tackling emissions in one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries. Watercycle Technologies is another great example. Its technology is being developed for direct lithium extraction and water-neutral mineral recovery, supporting more sustainable and circular battery supply chains. 

There are also companies such as HydroGraph, which is developing a lower-impact approach to graphene production, and Vector Homes, which is applying graphene-enabled composites to affordable, energy-efficient modular housing. 

What inspired the project? 

Ivan says the project is about helping researchers and entrepreneurs navigate the difficult journey between having an exciting idea and having something that a customer or investor can see value in. Universities can produce outstanding research, but there is often a significant amount of work needed before that research becomes a product, a company or something that genuinely changes people’s lives. 

Ivan says he wanted to be part of solving that problem; “For me, Accelerating Impact-Led Graphene Entrepreneurship is about creating that bridge between research and real-world impact.  

The ambition is not simply to produce more graphene companies, but to help build businesses that can grow, create jobs and investment, and ultimately contribute to solving some of the environmental and societal challenges we face.”

What does winning a Making a Difference Award mean to you? 

Winning the award is a really strong endorsement of the idea that entrepreneurship can be a powerful way of creating social and environmental impact. 

It’s easy to focus on the scientific achievement or the commercial success of a technology, but what matters to me is the difference those technologies can ultimately make.  

I also see the award as recognition of the wider team and ecosystem behind this work. Hopefully the award will also help raise awareness of what GEIC and the wider University can offer to entrepreneurs and companies trying to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges.