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Former Saatchi and Saatchi Vice Chairman unveils Teesside Uni national business hub

Rita Clifton, former Vice Chairman of Saatchi and Saatchi, has officially unveiled The Forge, Teesside University’s national business hub based in Darlington, where she spoke of the importance for businesses to find ways to connect and interact with each other.

Based at the £13m campus at Central Park, Darlington, The Forge is the ‘front door’ to the University for businesses ranging from startups and SMEs to blue-chip multinationals.

Each year, the University works with hundreds of different companies providing research and innovation, consultancy, knowledge exchange, startup incubation and mentoring and graduate placement.

The Forge will provide a single point of contact for businesses and triage them according to their needs.

The creation of The Forge responds to recommendations made in a government-commissioned review by the Chief Executive of GlaxoSmithKline, Sir Andrew Witty, which said that universities should be drivers of economic growth.

Speaking about the launch of The Forge, Rita said: “It’s very important to have a single point of contact where you access ideas and information.

“Bringing people and businesses together is incredibly important. When you have that sort of connection of ideas and expertise across sectors – that is where innovation happens.”

Laura Woods, the Director of The Forge, said: “It’s very important that we work with business and learn new ways of doing things and give companies an uncomplicated way to access what we’ve got to offer in the University.

“We want businesses to come and use this building. We’ve got fantastic resources and we want to fill this building with business users.”

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