Collaborate with two world-class universities and a leading consultancy to realise your ambitions for business growth

Are you an ambitious business?
Are you looking to develop new products and services to drive business growth?
Do you recognise the global market potential for green products and services?
Do you have an ambition to export, and want help targeting these markets?
Do you have any products, services and ideas which will reduce environmental impact, or benefit the environment, and want help in commercialising, refining or developing them? Do you have what it takes to work in collaboration with two world-class universities with global reach?
Do you want advice and support with patenting and intellectual property?

Is the answer is yes then you are the kind of business the Centre for Global Eco-innovation wants to work with to realise our shared ambitions.

Commercialisation and R&D support for eco-innovations

We are now recruiting 200 SMEs in the North West which have ambitious plans for their eco-innovative products, services or processes, to receive free support in commercialising them. This will be delivered by Inventya and will cover issues such as:

• Researching new markets
• Taking a product to market / to a new market
• Exporting for the first time / a new focus on exports
• Building up strategic partnerships with like-minded companies
• Accessing government and additional university help and support
• Winning further funding for the business
• Mentoring throughout the process

In addition, half of these businesses will receive 3-6 months’ fully academically supervised R&D support from Lancaster and Liverpool universities. Again, this support will be provided for free.

For more details of all of this, please see the Business: Register Now tab.

Examples of the kinds of projects which might be developed

Projects can be extremely diverse, for example:

• Engineering development of the product / service
• Scientific investigation
• Electronic design / implementation
• Materials identification and testing
• Catalysts and chemical reactions
• Environmental research / testing
• Software / app design
• The psychology of gaining acceptance

To apply for a project, first register in the Business: Register Now tab, then click through the Register a Project button and input your project.

An intensive 3-year programme of funded R&D for 50 of the regional most ambitious businesses

To launch the centre, we are working with 50 businesses that have a clear and original concept to form the basis of a collaborative research and development project with either Lancaster University or the University of Liverpool. These are substantive collaborative projects starting in October 2012 running over a three-year period. Projects underpin the development of a number of new products, processes and services with positive environmental benefits for the global marketplace. Each project is being undertaken by an appropriately skilled, qualified and experience graduate. We are particularly interested in working with businesses which have ambitious plans for major export markets.

Benefits of 3-6 months of funded R&D and commercialisation support

Find the time to undertake intensive R&D

We provide extra resources to help your business develop its R&D capability. We review your business research project, innovative idea or problem and take this research forward and explore it intensively for you within fully guided and supervised postgraduate or undergraduate research projects. You may register for more than one R&D project, especially if each is in a different discipline.

Cut the costs of R&D

R&D is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Liverpool, Lancaster University and Inventya Ltd. The cost of the researcher and their supervision will be met fully by the university undertaking it. As each project will be into an aspect of your technology, it will contribute significantly to the development costs of your product, service or process.

Supporting innovation through diversity

Both undergraduates and postgraduates are recruited internally, and are among the best qualified among their peers. This helps your business to increase its innovation capacity. You will also have the opportunity to work with the researcher(s), enabling you to gauge their suitability for employment afterwards. Evidence suggests that companies who recruit diverse, internationally skilled teams are more innovative and therefore more profitable.

Increased profitability

We only support R&D projects that we believe will achieve commercial results for your business resulting in increased investment and increased profitability. And we only support R&D projects that are eco-innovative in themselves, or that support eco-innovative products, services or processes.

Commercialisation support

We drive commercialisation opportunities including:

• New partnerships
• New markets and market research
• New focus and drive
• New developments for IP
• New patents
• New products
• New processes
• New technologies
• Creating of new spin-out firms
• Creating cost centres