Federation Programme

The Federation Programme is a Luminate-funded partnership running since 2018.  

Phase one of the programme ran until Spring 2021 and was designed to look at the impacts of technology on society.  

In phase one we:  

• Supported early-stage social enterprises that use technology to reduce inequality with funded desk space in a co-working hub. Here, partners could share learning, co-operate on joint ventures and increase each other’s impact.   
• Facilitated public events to ask broader questions about the role of technology in society which led to the creation of the Greater Manchester Responsible Tech Collective (recently renamed the Responsible Tech Collective). 
• Empowered local leaders to question the role of technology in society, and to start to find answers for their own communities through the Community Tech Fellowship programme. 

We learned a lot from phase one – you can read the full findings in our Federation Learning Report.  

Phase two   

We’ve co-created phase two of the programme with our partners, Noisy Cricket and Paper Frogs, with important input from stakeholders across the Greater Manchester tech scene. We’ll build on our successes and learning from phase one and adapt to new ways of working as we emerge from the pandemic.  

The programme will run until June 2023. We will empower people across Greater Manchester to address inequity, combat the erosion of rights and trust, and put society first in the digital space by:   

• Challenging the ways in which technology and data can reinforce existing inequalities. 

• Co-operating to build trust and deliver digitally-enabled products and services that are inclusive, respect people’s rights and safeguard their privacy. 

We’ll do this by focusing on:  

Capacity building – we’ll support social enterprises, activist organisations and communities to grow the impact of their work. 

Community Building – we’ll create communities to drive meaningful change in the digital technology space.  

Collective Action – we’ll collaborate with Greater Manchester leaders and the digital technology community to understand how technology can be used in a more ethical way to tackle inequality, put society first and tackle the erosions of rights and trust. We’ll also continue to increase the impact of the Responsible Tech Collective formed in phase one.  

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