Greater Manchester is to be named as one of 12 Investment Zones by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt during the Budget later today.
Each site will be backed by £80m of funding over five years while the region will also be in line to share an extra £100m with Glasgow and the West Midlands to help them become 'globally competitive centres for research and innovation'.
The Investment Zones will also include 'generous tax incentives' while the funding can be used to improve skills, provide specialist business support, improve the planning system or for local infrastructure.