The Images Group software and systems development expertise has been recognised by the award of NE Business Link Innovation Support Service Provider status allowing us to provide Business Link funded support to local SMEs for eligible projects.
As part of Business Link’s aid package for small-to-medium sized enterprises there are opportunities to benefit from 100% grant aid for innovative R&D projects assisting product or service development via the Innovation Voucher scheme.
The Images Group has now been added to the Innovation Service Provider register which allows the company’s software and systems development expertise to be made available to local businesses. This effectively gives the company the same Innovation Provider status as the five Universities in the region.
If you are interested in exploring how this award can be used in your product or service development, or wish to learn more about the Innovation Voucher scheme, contact James on 0191 5197279.
Over £2m has been made available to help North East firms boost their competitiveness by working closely with the region’s colleges, universities and other innovative organisations.
Accessed via Business Link, the £2.4m Innovation Vouchers project will encourage collaboration between SMEs and academic and engineering institutions, allowing businesses to use the vouchers to purchase support services and improve their competitiveness and efficiency.
The vouchers are being made available as part of the Government’s overall Solutions for Business framework – a streamlined portfolio of business support products that are easy to identify and simple to access.
For the first time all government help for business will share an easily identifiable ‘Solutions for Business’ banner and can be accessed mainly via Business Link. The aim also is to rationalise the vast array of support on offer with over 3,000 separate schemes targeted to be reduced to 30 by March 2010.
Innovation Vouchers aim to encourage small and medium sized companies to engage with Higher Education institutions such as the region’s five universities, Innovation Connector projects, Centres of Excellence and other Knowledge Base providers. Businesses most likely to attract support will be in the process of developing or testing a technology, product or service.
The project is being part financed by the European Union’s ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13, securing £1.2m ERDF investment which has been matched by regional development agency One North East.
The total value of any one voucher will be at least £3,000, through to a ceiling limit of £7,000, depending on the project.
One North East Director of Business and Industry, Ian Williams, said: “Innovation Vouchers will stimulate productivity and economic competitiveness by increasing innovation and the exploitation of new ideas within businesses.
“The North East has a lower number of businesses per head of population than the average for England. With a clear need to increase the region’s business stock levels, Innovation Vouchers will provide much needed support and growth for businesses in deprived areas of County Durham, Northumberland, Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear.
“As such, it is another important way that we are helping North East businesses address the challenges of the economic downturn and come out of it fitter and stronger.
“Ultimately, Solutions for Business will make it easier for companies, small and large, new and existing, to find the right products to help them with common business issues such as getting started, growing, finance, export, skills, innovation and the environment.”
Alastair MacColl, chief executive of Business & Enterprise North East, which delivers the Business Link service in the region, said: “Increasing innovation in North East England will be crucial to the region’s long term prosperity, so continuing to invest in the ongoing generation of great business ideas is vital.
“At Business Link we want to ensure that the North East is the best place in the UK to run an innovative business or service. Encouraging innovation and maximising its potential will both help to develop new areas of opportunity and also protect and reinforce those areas in which the region already excels. The new Innovation Vouchers represent an outstanding example of how this region is helping SMEs and knowledge based institutions to work together, providing the catalyst for the development of viable new products and services.
“Solutions for Business has been designed to make key business support products easier to access and I urge firms in the North East to contact Business Link in order to find out how their enterprise can benefit from the range of support that is now available.”
Minister for Business, Ian Pearson said: “To succeed in a competitive global environment UK businesses need ongoing access to help and support. The streamlined Solutions for Business portfolio makes it simpler for businesses to access the help they need, providing long term, sustainable support to business.”
Innovation Vouchers will be distributed via the North East England Investment Centre (NEEIC) following initial business needs analysis from Business Link
