Frequently Asked Questions

Greater Innovation for Smarter Materials Optimisation (GISMO) provides cutting-edge ideas and solutions to put businesses in Cheshire and Warrington ahead of the curve in the use, design and manufacture of materials.

It gives you fully-funded access to the experts in the Materials Science Institute at Lancaster University who will help you to find the right solution and guide you through implementing it.

We can help you:

• Improve the quality and effectiveness of your products and processes.
• Find new materials and formulations for your products
• Test and develop materials, your ideas and products
• Trial new technologies and processes
• Develop and build prototypes
• Understand developments in materials science

across the following three areas:

• Surfaces & Coatings

  A coating is a substance applied to another material to create a film that change the properties of its surface, such as colour, resistance to wear and permeability without changing its properties.

• Chemicals & Chemistry
  Are chemicals key to the effectiveness of your designs, products and production processes?
  
  
• Additive Manufacturing
  Additive manufacturing is the process for creating a 3D object from a computer aided design program by adding layer upon layer of material to fabricate it.

Our experts will listen to your needs, create an action plan for your challenge and at the conclusion of the support, they will ask you to confirm the outcomes and the support that you received.

For more information see our How It Works page.

This programme is fully funded and free-of-charge to Cheshire and Warrington based small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) eligibility criteria. Please contact us to discuss your eligibility. 

If you are interested in joining GISMO, please use our contact form.

If you have a project enquiries or wish to have a collaborative discussions relating to GISMO, please contact us at gismo-enquiries@lancaster.ac.uk.

GISMO is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, along with support from Lancaster University and the UK Government Northern Powerhouse.

To see a full list of the planned events and currently available workshops, please visit our Events page, where you can read more and register your interest.

If you contact GISMO directly, we can have a collaborative discussion to explore areas of your business and supply chain that can be relevant to this project. We will work with you to identify where your business activities may be relevant to receive support on this project.

To reach out to the team please use our contact form.

All intellectual property resulting from this project will remain property of the creating organisation. This means you can be confident when working with GISMO that your innovations remain your property. 

Please use our contact form where possible, otherwise, please contact us at gismo-enquiries@lancaster.ac.uk.