North West ISBP Action Plan - Projects

Please select a project for more details:

• ARTS MAGNET
• BUSINESS INVESTMENT SCHEME
• CENTRE FOR CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION (CCI)
• CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY THROUGH BUSINESS SUPPORT
• ENWORKS REGIONAL RETHINK NETWORK
• MOTIVATING BUSINESS TO INNOVATE (MBI)
• NW NODE
• PREDICT
• REGIONAL BEST PRACTICE NETWORK
• REGIONAL CENTRE FOR MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE
• SME PASSPORT TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE SUCCESS
• SUSTAINABILITY GRANT FOR SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
• TECHNET NORTH WEST

ARTS MAGNET

Arts Magnet/WHAT: a pilot project that enables arts and cultural organisations to gear up to the exciting content-creating opportunities that digital technology offers and that broadband enhances.

Arts Magnet/WHO: attracting audiences to Arts and Culture events and venues through the best creative and artistic use of the most exciting new technology.

Arts Magnet/WHEN: Arts Magnet will be showcasing what North West based arts and cultural organisations are doing with technology to help you TOUCH THE ART.

Organisation: Cornerhouse
Contact: Hannah Rudman

BUSINESS INVESTMENT SCHEME

The project will provide the management costs for the NWDA Business Investment Scheme for Objective 2 fully eligible and transitional areas. The BIS will be managed by a professional venture capital manager on a commercial basis. The Business Investment Scheme individual investment projects will provide investments of up to £500,000 (or 750,000 Euro equivalent) to unlock up to £1.5m (or 2.25m Euro equivalent) of principally private sector investment, including debt financing.

Organisation: NWDA

CENTRE FOR CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION (CCI)

This project completed December 2004.

The aim of the project is to support and accelerate the transition of the construction industry in the region to a knowledge-based economy by stimulating regional creativity and innovation and improving access by SMEs, micro-enterprises and community businesses to advanced construction research and development resources and ICT, Internet and digital media technologies. Regional business will be encouraged to play a leading role in the development of a leading edge enterprise culture across the city and region with a particular emphasis on business networking, innovative uses of integrated teams, partnering, sustainability, health and safety, and advanced e-commerce solutions.

Organisation: Manchester City Council
Contact: Dave Carter

CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY THROUGH BUSINESS SUPPORT

The purpose of the project is to develop the target clusters within the North West through specialist support for the SMEs which operate within them. A partnership involving the NWDA, Trade Partners UK, the SBS, the Business Links and the Regional Cluster Organisations will work together to provide a specialist business support service to companies in the Objective 2 area.

The service will supplement existing activities by operating at a more intensive and specialised level than that currently provided for the SBS by the Business Links. The programme will offer practical help across a company’s needs, and will have a particular focus on international trade.

Organisation: NWDA
Contact: Kim Brown

ENWORKS REGIONAL RETHINK NETWORK

This regional project specifically aims to generate closer links between innovation and specialist business support covering the environment, sustainability and the environmental technology sector in order to increase competitiveness of SMEs. Using the existing North West Enworks network in partnership with each of the small business service area organisations it will provide an innovative specialist business support service. Networking, company mentoring via supply chains, counselling and consultancy services will aim to increase the number of waste recycling businesses and innovation partnerships in the region, stimulating joint collobrative ventures to identify waste streams that could be used as raw materials for viable re-use/recycling processing businesses and new markets, and advise SMEs to improve their waste management and increase resource efficicency.

Organisation: ENWORKS
Contact: Sam Nicholson

MOTIVATING BUSINESS TO INNOVATE (MBI)

This project completed August 2004.

The purpose of the project is to improve business performance and to stimulate enterprise, entrepreuralism and new business formation. This is with focus on the regional SME base as the primary driver in delivering the objectives, and with innovation and technology delivering the world class products and processes needed for competition in a rapidly expanding global market.

This is achieved through the project partners becoming engaged in a process of collaboration and hands-on support with the regions wider industry, science base and support structures. Creating the motivation to innovate, enabling business to innovate, and commercialising and expanding the knowledge base.

Organisation: Eurofocus Cumbria Ltd
Project Website: Contact: Project Director – George McDonald / Project Co-ordinator – Vicki Moss

NW NODE

This project completed December 2004.

The major aim of the NW NODE is to implement and monitor the Regional ICT Strategy on behalf of the NorthWest Development Agency. The purpose of the strategy is to ensure that the region "aspires to be a region where demanding and accepting culture of ICT use, comprehensive access to ICT and provision of high quality ICT content all work together to pull forward competitiveness and opportunity for all". NW NODE will encourage organisations to work together and collaborate by facilitating the creating of formal and informal networks and acting as an information feed to these networks.

Organisation: North West Regional Assembly
Project website address: www.nwnode.org.uk Contact: Rob Green

PREDICT

The PREDICT project will collaborate with other SBS partnerships, the DDA, Northern Technologies, industry specialists and knowledge base to deliver innovative support to SMEs. The partners of the project will actively encourage SMEs to exploit innovative business opportunities and to access required technologies and technical skills from the most appropriate source of assistance. The core role of the team is to identify innovative technology opportunities, understanding and interpreting the needs of SMEs, then translating those needs into actions.

Organisation: Chamber Business Enterprises
Contact: Chris Greenhalgh

REGIONAL BEST PRACTICE NETWORK

The Project will expand the previous Regional Supply Chain Innovation Group concept to the whole of the North West, thus allowing SMEs greater access to the best practice and mentoring from strategic companies across the region. The Project aims to encourage the transfer the exploitation of knowledge, Research and Development and new technologies from strategic companies and Higher Education Institutes to SMEs.

The project meets its aims through concentrating through entrepreural effort on the region’s economic strengths and capitalising on opportunities presented by its world class excellence in manufacturing. It will promote greater access to and involvement in the exploitation of knowledge and innovation across the region, by collaboration and partnership between SMEs and public agencies, etc; inter-firm trading inter-firm trading and supply chain developments; enabling SMEs to broaden and deepen their knowledge through 'collective learning'.

Organisation: Northwest Regional Development Agency
Contact: Louise Berritta

REGIONAL CENTRE FOR MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE

The project will directly assist North West SMEs to improve their productivity and deliver measurable business improvements. The new 3-year programme, which commenced in January 2003 aims to:

1. Provide resources to develop further the Manufacturing Advisory Service practionioner base, targeting 120 SMEs within the region through joint working with the Small Business Sevices (SBS) Business Support Teams.

2. Provide an internet-based knowledge and manufacturing best practice exchange tool to 150 North West manufacturing SMEs.

The project will support innovative activities linked to knowledge transfer iniatives, through the development of innovative business networks and advanced e-commerce solutions. The project will support business innovation and networking through the provision of an advisory service, technology transfer workshops / networking events, ICT promotion and benchmarking performance.

Organisation: The Manufacturing Institute
Contact: David Eckersley

SME PASSPORT TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE SUCCESS

The "Passport to International Trade Success" project is an intiative aimed at providing a tailored, integrated and customer-focused package of support for companies seeking to develop their full market potential, and will complement the North West Regional International Trade Strategy. The project seeks to develop competitiveness of participating SMEs by allowing them access into international markets. This will be achieved by assisting SMEs with understanding, decision-making, implementation and best practice, business diagnostic and action planning, with a view to stimulating business development and growth.

Organisation: Northwest Regional Development Agency
Contact: Mike Eccleshall

SUSTAINABILITY GRANT FOR SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

The main purpose of the project is to set up a grant fund for existing and potential social enterprises in the North West Objective 2 area, which, combined with an appopriate package of support, will enable them to develop strategies to increase their financial stability.

A key aim is to overcome the gaps in accessing appropriate finance and support often experienced by social enterprises in order to support the transition from grant dependency to self-sufficiency. It therefore hopes to stimulate increases in levels of entrepreurial activity amongst community and voluntary based organisations, particularly in deprived areas.

Organisation: Bolton Business Ventures
Contact: Silvia Philips

TECHNET NORTH WEST

This project has now finished.

The main aim of the project, is to support and accelerate the region’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. This will be achieved by stimulating local creativity and innovation, and improving access by SMEs and micro-enterprises to advanced research and development resources and ICT technologies. Local businesses will be encouraged to play a leading role in the development of a cutting edge digital culture across the city and region, with a particular emphasis on innovative uses of business networking and advanced e-commerce solutions.

Organisation: Manchester City Council
Contact: