Manchester, England, the Eighties. As factory after factory closed, the city’s future looked bleak. What’s the purpose of an industrial city when there’s no longer a demand for industry? The city wore down, becoming a mere ghost of its former swaggering self. Manchester’s success story that decade was alternative rock band The Smiths and little more needs said.

Fortunately, throughout the strains of this period and of in-spite of the despondent soundtrack, Manchester remained a city that believed in making its own luck. It started to plan, it started to gather the people and organisations who were willing to fight for the city and from amongst them selected a new brightstar – the university sector, including the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. Manchester, it was decided, would become a knowledge city of international calibre.

A similar pattern can be found around the world today as former industrial…