Member Article

Process sector firms urged to tap into £1 million cash pot

Companies at the heart of Teesside’s process sector have a chance to tap into a £1 million cash pot.

The funding from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) aims to “stimulate this hotspot of process industries” grouped around Wilton Centre, Seal Sands and Billingham.

The TSB will fund up to 60% of eligible project costs in industrial research projects on Teesside.

It will cover project sizes ranging between £50k and £200k and should be led by micro, small or medium-sized companies that the board “anticipates are likely to be in the early stages of their development.”

The £1 million pot, towards innovative research and development projects, is designed to enable companies to “go further and/or faster towards commercial success” and act as a magnet for investment and talent into the area.

It’s the latest in a series of Launchpad funding competitions from the TSB, which is the “UK’s innovation agency” – a public body that operates at arm’s length from the Government and reports to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

“The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £1 million in innovative research and development projects, with a focus on the cluster of manufacturing process businesses in the North-east, grouped around the Wilton Centre, Seal Sands and Billingham,” said a TSB statement.

“The competition aims to stimulate this hotspot of process industries by enabling companies to go further and/or faster towards commercial success.

“We want to draw investment and people into the area, and to encourage networking and collaboration to strengthen the cluster.

“We are therefore looking for projects that may be too risky for companies to take forward without any support, or that may take them into new innovation areas, and where the majority of the project activities are carried out within the North East cluster.”

The TSB’s goal is to “accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation.”

Launchpad is the TSB’s response to the “significant” challenges faced by process manufacturers, including relatively high capital needs, a declining UK-based supply chain, skills shortages and reduced access to finance.

The statement added: “An integral part of Launchpad is the offer of support to help applicants to raise additional new external finance that we expect will be needed to fully fund the project and its subsequent commercialisation.”

The competition opens for applicants on 1st September, with the deadline for video submissions at noon on 15th October.

A briefing event will be held in The Wynyard Rooms, Billingham, on 9th September. Call the TSB on 0300 321 4357 for more details.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .