Tue, 30 March, 2021
TWI, the Tees Valley Combined Authority and Teesside University are working together on two programmes to help small and medium-sized businesses in the Tees Valley to address technology challenges and develop new products, systems and services.
The programmes both offer fully-funded consultancy support to SMEs and you can find out more at a free webinar on 20 April 2021, 10am BST.
The first of the programmes, The Tees Valley Innovation Accelerator (TIA) is being delivered alongside Teesside University, and is aimed at SMEs focused on innovation and new market development. The programme will provide free consultancy services to companies who wish to develop their ideas into new products or solutions. This includes support to develop prototypes using key enabling technologies to achieve proof of concept design, as well as identifying grant funding opportunities, building partnerships with like-minded companies and organisations, and produce high quality, targeted proposals for public funding.
The second programme on offer, The Materials Integrity Technology Transfer (MITT), is being delivered by TWI and the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA). This programme is aimed at manufacturing SMEs, including all welding and materials joining processes and technologies; engineering materials such as metals, composites and plastics; or associated techniques including quality, welding procedures, inspection, non-destructive testing (NDT), coatings and surfacing. Companies joining this programme will gain assistance to tackle technology challenges in order to improve productivity, develop and advance processes, and harness innovation to the benefit of the business.
The webinar will offer presentations from Chris Beck, Director of Business and Skills, TVCA on Business Support in the Tees Valley, Laurence Robinson, Technology Innovation Management, TWI, about the TIA scheme, and Gareth Fletcher, Technology Manager, TWI who will detail the MITT scheme. In addition, there will be presentations from companies who are currently engaged with the programmes, including Bubo.AI on their SaaS innovation and Pollywood Ltd on their product innovation. Finally, Zulf Ali, Innovation Partnership Director at Teesside University, will explain the prototyping support available, with the webinar being chaired by Abbas Mohimi, Head of Public Funding and Regional Engagement, TWI.
TWI’s Team Manager, Technology Innovation Management, Laurence Robinson, explained, “One of the key benefits to SMEs of joining the TIA and MITT programmes is that it will open up their company to input from a broad range of technology, engineering and industry-based experts from TWI’s technical specialists, TWI’s Industrial Membership base and innovation networks that they may not have access to ordinarily.”
He continued, “In addition, this collaborative way of working has been tried and tested over many years at TWI, and we have a strong track record in unlocking funding and supporting small businesses in Tees Valley. In combination with the expertise of our partners TVCA and Teesside University, this means that SMEs can truly realise their technology development ambitions via these two programmes.”
Companies wishing to attend the free webinar should register here.
The support is provided free to SMEs with thanks to financial and administrative contributions from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), The Northern Powerhouse and Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA).