Tech firms from telecomms to pharmaceuticals will benefit from a multi-million pound European-backed funding programme centred on the East Midlands
Technology companies and innovators in the East Midlands are to be the first in the United Kingdom to gain access to potential funding for their organisations of up to £3m as part of a pioneering project for the region announced last month.
Companies ranging from telecommunications and optical fibres, to computing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and biotechnology all stand to benefit from InvoRed - a flagship scheme developed by Connect Midlands and backed by emda and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).
It is designed to enable early stage technology companies, or even innovators with technology based ideas and plans, access to expert help to attract investors.
This is the first programme of its kind to be launched in the United Kingdom and one of only a handful around the world.
It was formally announced at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham on 25 June 2003.
"The East Midlands is well recognised as a growing and thriving region for technology companies.
InvoRed will now give them access to the critical support they need to meet with people and organisations that can help them prepare to achieve the funding they need for growth," said Connect Midlands director Isabell Majewsky. InvoRed will be co-ordinated from a regional headquarters being established at the Innovation Centre at Loughborough University. It will look to support organisations - even at pre-incorporation stages - with help to enable them to attract funding of up to £500,000 and of up to £3m for companies already in existence but looking for growth.
The scheme is being supported by Emda, whose deputy chief executive Jeff Moore chaired the launch on 25 June. "Emda's role includes championing the region's economy and its development and creating the right climate for investment," said Moore.
"The InvoRed initiative is therefore going to be enormously significant in helping us achieve those ambitions and to help us achieve our vision of making the East Midlands one of Europe's top 20 regions by 2010." Technology companies or innovators with ideas merely have to contact InvoRed.
They will then by contacted by telephone to assess their suitability and reduce the possibility of developing a fruitless application.
"If you are a technology company - any kind of technology company - and you want to grow, then InvoRed is waiting to hear from you," said Ms Majewsky. "We have the people and the organisation and we can shape your organisation or idea in to one that investors will be attracted to.
There is absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving InvoRed a call."
