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Nottinghamshire businesses invest in the future.
22/04/2008
Gloomy economic forecasts are failing to depress the thirst of local businesses for investment says Hilary Whaley of the East Midlands New Technology Initiative (NTI).
East Midlands NTI provides grants of up to £10,000 for firms to invest in new technology and links them with the region’s top universities and colleges for industry specific staff training all the way to degree level. It says the demand for grants and training is as strong as ever with increasing numbers of applications reaching the office each month.
Hilary said: “In the past year we have given match funded new technology grants of £625,000 to local businesses and we have a steady flow of enquiries and applications which shows no sign of slowing down. We awarded 50% more in grant funding in 2007/2008 than the previous year and expect to increase that even more in the financial year just started. We already have some 45 enquiries in the pipeline since the beginning of April.
“Each grant represents a true investment in the future of the local economy as firms take their business into new markets, employ more staff and challenge sector leaders for their contracts. A condition of the grant provision is that employees must be enrolled on suitable, NTI recognised training.
“The East Midlands NTI has helped 187 businesses in the last year alone, helping them to create 35 new jobs and safeguard many more.”
The East Midlands NTI is unique in its role in acting as a catalyst for so many colleges, universities and business sector organisations to work together – and jointly to collaborate with small and medium sized businesses. It has given over £300,000 match funded grants to its member education institutions in the last financial year to invest in new technology specifically to support businesses. Businesses can work with postgraduate students and the new technology for research, product development and new marketing skills.
The East Midlands NTI focuses on four industry sectors: Construction, Creative Industries, Food and Drink and High Performance Engineering.
Professor Roy Morledge of Nottingham Trent University who leads the Construction Network, said: “The construction industry invests just 0.2% of their turnover in research and development but new computer aided design systems and communications is compelling companies to look at new technology. It is making them more skilled, more fleet of foot and better able to tap into larger contracts.”
Stichelton Cheese, produces stilton-like cheese from a farm near Welbeck from raw unpasteurised milk turned to the East Midlands NTI for a grant for a high tech cheese piercer to take over the process of poking holes in the cheese to allow in air, creating the distinctive blue veining. Previously this task was done by two or three people working manually, all week. Now they are available to take on more challenging roles within the production, and to enrol on skill development courses.
Owner, Joe Schneider said: “Poking holes in cheese is incredibly time consuming and was a waste of the amazing skills of three people. But it is such a delicate process the machinery we required was highly sophisticated. New technology is important but we have to be careful how to apply it. You must not compromise your product to fit with the technology. This machine has reduced labour by 75% and freed people up to great opportunities.
“In just two months the new technology has made a tremendous difference. The quality of the cheese is much more consistent. We wouldn’t have been able to afford the machine without the NTI grant and without it, we couldn’t free up our staff to expand their skills.”
Nottingham based Virtual World, Online Game and Technology developer Monumental Games is now able to offer TV and other production companies resources to develop prototypes with the virtual world without excessive set up costs.
The new service has been made possible through a grant from East Midlands NTI Creative Industries Network. Using the grant provided by NTI, Monumental has set up dedicated hosting, server and hardware infrastructure that can be shared over multiple projects.
Alan O’Dea, business development director at Monumental, says:“Through the NTI grant, Monumental can now offer something truly unique to clients - a shared hardware infrastructure and development team to reduce the costs and barriers to entry for educators, researchers, governments, film, television & media producers, advertisers and corporations wishing to develop virtual world based projects. The NTI was extremely receptive and supportive of Monumental’s vision and were prompt in delivering a grant that could turn that vision into a tangible solution for clients within a relevant and beneficial timeframe.”
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