📍 Venue: SISTER – Renold Building, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR
What does it take to fund and build ambitious science that doesn’t fit neatly into existing models?
Join our fellow ARIA activation partner Convergent Research at Venture Café Manchester for an evening exploring new ways to fund and organise ambitious science and technology – and where Focused Research Organisations (FROs) could fit within the UK’s evolving innovation landscape.
Whether you already work at the edge of science and innovation or are simply curious about how we might fund and organise ambitious research differently, come along, meet others working across the ecosystem and join the conversation.
No prior knowledge of FROs is needed – everyone interested in the future of science and innovation is welcome!
In partnership with Convergent Research | Community partner: Silicon Mingle
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Step into a space where every conversation could spark something new. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a lively atmosphere designed to bring people together, whether you’re exchanging ideas, discovering collaborators, or simply sharing a laugh. This is the perfect moment to unwind, connect, and let serendipity guide your evening.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
Through our weekly Thursday Gatherings, founders, researchers, investors and innovators come together to share ideas, explore new technologies and build meaningful connections. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Manchester is creating a central hub for the city’s innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
💬 Connect with us on LinkedIn
📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter
An introduction to Convergent research, framing for the upcoming discussion on Focused Research Organizations (FROs), context on Convergent’s work in the UK, and the wider Convergent–ARIA partnership.
A wide-angle conversation about the UK science and innovation landscape: how ambitious, high-risk, and public-good research is funded today; where conventional structures leave important gaps; and why new models such as ARIA and Focused Research Organizations (FROs) are emerging.
The panel will consider how universities, research institutes, companies, public funders, philanthropists, and new scientific organisations can work alongside one another - and what role Manchester and the wider North can play in building the next generation of research capabilities.
A close-up look at Echo Labs, a Focused Research Organisation working to make environmental and ecosystem data more connected, scalable, and useful. Tosca Tindall will discuss the scientific and technical bottleneck Echo is addressing, why the Focused Research Organization (FRO) model is a fit for the work, how the team came together, and what it is like to build a time-bound, mission-driven organisation.
The conversation will also explore lessons from Convergent’s Founder Residency and what researchers, founders, and technical operators should consider when deciding whether an ambitious idea is genuinely FRO-shaped.
📍 Venue: SISTER – Renold Building, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR
What does it take to fund and build ambitious science that doesn’t fit neatly into existing models?
Join our fellow ARIA activation partner Convergent Research at Venture Café Manchester for an evening exploring new ways to fund and organise ambitious science and technology – and where Focused Research Organisations (FROs) could fit within the UK’s evolving innovation landscape.
Whether you already work at the edge of science and innovation or are simply curious about how we might fund and organise ambitious research differently, come along, meet others working across the ecosystem and join the conversation.
No prior knowledge of FROs is needed – everyone interested in the future of science and innovation is welcome!
In partnership with Convergent Research | Community partner: Silicon Mingle
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Step into a space where every conversation could spark something new. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a lively atmosphere designed to bring people together, whether you’re exchanging ideas, discovering collaborators, or simply sharing a laugh. This is the perfect moment to unwind, connect, and let serendipity guide your evening.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
Through our weekly Thursday Gatherings, founders, researchers, investors and innovators come together to share ideas, explore new technologies and build meaningful connections. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Manchester is creating a central hub for the city’s innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
💬 Connect with us on LinkedIn
📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter
An introduction to Convergent research, framing for the upcoming discussion on Focused Research Organizations (FROs), context on Convergent’s work in the UK, and the wider Convergent–ARIA partnership.
A wide-angle conversation about the UK science and innovation landscape: how ambitious, high-risk, and public-good research is funded today; where conventional structures leave important gaps; and why new models such as ARIA and Focused Research Organizations (FROs) are emerging.
The panel will consider how universities, research institutes, companies, public funders, philanthropists, and new scientific organisations can work alongside one another - and what role Manchester and the wider North can play in building the next generation of research capabilities.
A close-up look at Echo Labs, a Focused Research Organisation working to make environmental and ecosystem data more connected, scalable, and useful. Tosca Tindall will discuss the scientific and technical bottleneck Echo is addressing, why the Focused Research Organization (FRO) model is a fit for the work, how the team came together, and what it is like to build a time-bound, mission-driven organisation.
The conversation will also explore lessons from Convergent’s Founder Residency and what researchers, founders, and technical operators should consider when deciding whether an ambitious idea is genuinely FRO-shaped.