After 2 months of blood, sweat, and fortunately no tears, the Innovation Programme for Greater Lincolnshire’s website is finally live! Launched in September 2016, the Innovation Programme is a 3 year, £3.3m European Regional Development Funded project which aims to support SMEs (small to medium enterprises) across Greater Lincolnshire to advance and develop their growth ambitions.
Small and Micro businesses make up 98% of the 41k registered businesses within Greater Lincolnshire – above the UK average. Through the Innovation Programme we will be providing those organisations with the knowledge, expertise, funding and skills to enable them to progress their products and processes so they can compete on a national scale.
There are a number of schemes on offer to help them to achieve this. Innovation vouchers will afford businesses up to £5k of an academic’s time, imparting valuable research knowledge to the development of projects.
Proof of Concept funding finances up to £10k to those who are looking to purchase equipment or complete marketing testing to develop their idea past the initial stage.
Specialists are available to provide much needed business support and advice covering a range of business sectors and a variety of business functions from marketing, logistics, organisation, new product development and finance.
Internships in cutting edge projects offer the county’s graduates sought after opportunities to work on something truly unique, whilst providing the business with a high level of knowledge, skill and enthusiasm.
Finally, the Lincolnshire Leadership and Management Centre will be starting a dedicated programme for businesses looking to innovate in spring 2017.
Alongside the above there is a dedicated programme of events which will provide opportunities for networking, industry visits, and engaging speakers; encouraging businesses to look to innovate their products and processes, whilst delivering the support necessary to achieve this.
Further details on the programme are available on our brand spanking new website www.lincsinnovation.co.uk, or for more information contact info@lincsinnovation.co.uk.