The Department for International Trade (DIT) is to promote Greater Manchester and Cheshire & Warrington to international investors looking to design, develop, test, and commercialise new diagnostics and early interventions for healthy ageing.

The successful joint bid by MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, and Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, secured High Potential Opportunity (HPO) status, leveraging the regions’ world leading cluster of clinical, academic and commercial life sciences assets and expertise.

These collective strengths of the two regions are outlined in the DIT document, High Potential Opportunity: Diagnostics and Early Intervention for Healthy Ageing.

The HPO programme identifies specific investment opportunities to promote to foreign investors, with an ambition of driving inward investment in regional economies.

The Diagnostics and Early Intervention HPO will highlight the commercial opportunities across the region for investors in 177 countries centred around four key themes: Diagnostics, SMART technologies, Assistive technologies and Therapeutics.

Inclusion in the HPO programme acknowledges Health Innovation for Healthy Ageing as a global frontier sector strength at the heart of Greater Manchester’s Local Industrial Strategy and Economic Vision, its £6bn devolved healthcare budget, and the world-class life sciences facilities across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington.