The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Northwest ERDF Programme have today launched a new Innovation Voucher scheme to help support and grow the Northwest economy. With the support and investment of the new ERDF programme, the NWDA will deliver the £4.1m scheme designed to encourage business to engage proactively with the Northwest knowledge base, including colleges and universities.  The funding consists of £2m ERDF and £2.1 from the NWDA. Businesses need to innovate to remain competitive in the face of current global challenges. This project is a voucher scheme that will work with businesses who do not normally engage with the knowledge base (Further and Higher Education Institutions - FEI & HEI and the wider public sector), with the aim of resolving issues which would increase productivity and/or competitiveness. Many SMEs are not aware of the potential benefits of collaborating with the knowledge base and might not know how to access the expertise that is available to them in the region. The Innovation Vouchers scheme addresses the lack of interaction by intervening to encourage SMEs, to work with the knowledge base by reducing the costs, and by brokering the contact between SMEs and the experts in our region. The voucher, valued at up to £3,000, and support should help to ensure that many SMEs will then continue to work with FEIs and HEIs long into the future. 
 
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27 October 2008
© NWDA

Sustainable Paths to Community Development published by the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) on Tuesday 9th September, argues that the gap between rich and poor is widening and that this has led to social fragmentation and isolation of poorer communities. It calls for a radical re-thinking of the way we approach regeneration and community development. The authors, SSE Chair Charlotte Young and her husband Don, argue that top-down government attempts at regeneration such as the New Deal for Communities have inadequate impact because they over-emphasise democratic and bureaucratic concerns and don’t make use of local talents, knowledge and resources. Central to this problem is the fear of officialdom in handing over control. The report points to small-scale, community-based initiatives, which focus on individual and community learning through experience, as the best way to break the deep-rooted cycle of deprivation and exclusion and outlines successful examples.

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09 September 2008
© School of Social Entrepreneurs

A ground-breaking interactive map will, for the first time, offer businesses in the East of England a simple view of publicly-funded business support that can help them on their journey to success. Businesses are often confused by the array of business support services available to them. However, the East of England Development Agency’s (EEDA’s) new online Business Map will take them on a clearly-defined route through the services according to their specific needs. The ultimate aim is to help businesses compete more effectively in the global marketplace. Inspired by the design of an underground map, each ‘line’ represents a different area of support or advice. From increasing sales to employing staff, maximising growth opportunities to finding the right source of finance - the map is the ideal starting point for any business seeking support. As the journey continues, businesses are taken through a number of ’stations’ offering practical solutions to today’s business challenges.Content

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1 September 2008
© EEDA

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is launching its UK wide Keep Trade Local photography tour next week to raise awareness about the need to safeguard the future of small independent shops and the communities they sustain. The whole tour is being sponsored by the Arts Council England. An array of photographs, illustrating independent retailers from across the country, will be hung in disused shops and town centre market days to echo how the spaces could be better utilised but for small businesses being driven out of our high streets. John Wright, FSB National Chairman, said: “Over 42% of our towns and villages no longer have a shop of any kind and by 2010 many local communities will have no small shops or services. Small businesses are coming under pressure from a combination of factors – not least because of this uncertain economic climate. The Government will only listen to a united voice from communities and businesses across the country.”

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29 August 2008
© FSB

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has announced that five universities in the region will receive funding through a new enterprise scheme. According to the NWDA, its Enterprise Champions funding will help to develop graduates and encourage them to be more enterprising entrepreneurs. In total, £930,000 worth of funding has been approved for the venture in order to help guide graduates and provide them with more business opportunities. “This exciting project will support fresh ideas at an early stage and encourage our graduates to take their entrepreneurial plans forward to profit making businesses,” Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA commented.

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22 August 2008
© Englands Northwest

Social enterprise, a form of business with primarily social or environmental objectives, can be a useful tool to alleviate poverty amongst the most marginalised in society and has a role to play in regenerating neighbourhoods and increasing community cohesion. The Government recognises that increasing the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women starting up social enterprises will potentially enable many groups of ethnic minority women, such as Pakistani and Bangladeshi women who are under represented in the workplace and in society, to become more economically independent and participate more fully in communities. There are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK which contribute £8.4 billion pounds to the UK economy, but evidence suggests that BAME women are underrepresented as social enterprise owners.

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20 August 2008
© Cabinet Office

Small businesses are being offered the chance to win awards of up to £40,000 to help fund innovative ideas to tackle climate change. The Shell Springboard programme, now in its fourth year, is offering up to six awards in each of three UK regions - north, central and south. Last year, oil and gas giant Shell handed out maximum £40,000 awards to five businesses for their projects, which had to prove they can lead to greenhouse gas reductions and be commercially viable. “SMEs are a vibrant and creative sector of the economy, so they’re ideally placed to be climate change entrepreneurs,” James Smith, chairman of Shell UK, said. “Shell’s planning scenario planning suggests that in the future we will be reliant on a mix of a number of different energy sources and energy saving technologies. Grassroots innovation from small businesses could be a crucial factor in driving the development of this mix.”

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© Faversham House Group Ltd

20 August 2008

As Team GB starts triumphantly winning gold at Beijing, it’s now time for small to medium businesses in Tower Hamlets to get in the race for London 2012 contracts. A wide range of contracts is now up for grabs on CompeteFor, the Government’s online brokerage “dating” service. Thirty-nine contracts are currently listed, ranging from concrete cutting to office moving services, as well as opportunities to work with a merchandising supplier of London 2012 to provide signage and clothing. Tower Hamlets has over 500 companies registered on CompeteFor – the fourth highest across all London boroughs and the highest of the five Olympic boroughs.

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18 August 2008
© 24Dash.com

London’s small businesses are to get help to bring innovative new products to the market following the launch of ‘Knowledge Connect’ - a new business support programme from the London Development Agency (LDA). Knowledge Connect will enable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to get in touch with universities, further education colleges and private sector specialists to develop new business opportunities. Knowledge transfer is at the centre of London’s economy enabling the transfer of ideas and skills between the capital’s 43 higher education institutions universities, other knowledge base organisations, businesses and the wider community. This promotes the development of innovative new products and services - enhancing the performance and competitiveness of London’s businesses.

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13 August 2008
© London Development Agency

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is today calling on an influential review to implement proposals to ensure small businesses win at least 30 per cent of all public sector contracts. Responding to a government push to improve small firm’s access to public contracts, the FSB today told the Glover Review on the Role of SMEs in Public Procurement that it welcomes the target for SMEs to win 30 per cent of all public sector contracts, but urges that the target is specifically aimed at the micro end of the SME scale.

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11 August 2008
© Federation of Small Businesses