Tag Archives: companies

HEIF 15/16 Innovation Vouchers – Call OPEN

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Research, Business and Employability Services have opened a call for Innovation and Collaboration vouchers, open to all staff. Innovation and Collaboration Vouchers are designed to support innovative projects, collaborations with companies and cross faculty working.

Call Information

  • Application period: 5th – 30th October 2015
  • Total Budget for theme: 10 vouchers at £4k
  • Projects duration: 4 months
  • Not funded: Internal faculty admin costs, Research Projects, Training and Teaching and learning

The application form along with a best practice example is now available for download in the HEIF dropbox below:

HEIF 15-16 Innovation and collaboration voucher documents

* NOTE you do not require a Dropbox account to access the documents, close dialogue box (x in right hand corner) and the documents will be accessible

 

 

Funding for Staffordshire companies

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Staffordshire companies are being invited to share part of a £3 million funding pot awarded through the Regional Growth Fund. The funding is available until March 2015 and aims to create more than 170 jobs in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. This funding programme is being run by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire University is one of the project partners providing support to local companies to help with business expansion.

The ‘Innovative Growth in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire’ fund will be providing capital grants to companies for premises or the purchase of new equipment, consultancy, market development, research development and innovation to bring new products to market.  Staffordshire University’s involvement is being led by Naomi Arblaster, Commercial Funding Manager based in our Enterprise and Commercial Development department.  Please help us to promote this opportunity to your contacts. 

Further information can be found on the attached press release here : IGISS press release 25 02 14 

Or please contact Vanessa Darlington, Programmes and Data Manager at Stoke-on-Trent City Council (vanessa.darlington@stoke.gov.uk).   

 

 

Re-imagining the high street

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Breathing new life into Britain’s high streets – Technology Strategy Board

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Business have been challenged to come up with new ways to rejuvenate Britain’s high streets, as part of an £8m investment by the Technology Strategy Board

The high street is facing a growing challenge from online shopping and out-of-town superstores.

Today’s shoppers spend more than half of their outlay away from town and city centres. While sales from physical stores, both in and out of town, have remained constant over the last five years, online sales have risen by 222% or £18.5bn.

Despite a positive outlook for retail as a whole – with increasing year-on-year retail sales and a near 20% increase in online sales over the past year, high vacancy rates and challenging trading conditions for the High St remain.

A new competition through TSB will encourage exciting new developments that could change the way business is done across our high streets – David Willetts, University and Science Minister explained the following;

“Technology plays a vital role in people’s everyday lives and has the ability to influence our movements and shopping habits. By developing innovations to regenerate the retail sector we will be able to breathe new life into the UK’s high streets. This competition will encourage exciting new developments that could change the way business is done across our high streets. Giving shoppers and businesses real time information that they can use to their advantage will make a real difference in helping to boost the UK economy. This competition is aimed at encouraging businesses of all sizes to come up with innovations that address key challenges, such as ways we can combine both physical and virtual shopping or develop real-time parking information.”

The competition, ‘Re-imagining the high street‘, is being run under the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) programme, which provides opportunities for innovative businesses to develop products or services that solve particular challenges faced by government bodies.

Click here to find out more about the competition