Competitive, central, cost-effective and well connected, the East Midlands combines a vibrant business community with great places to live. It has excellent connections to the UK and Europe, and is home to world-renowned international businesses such as Rolls-Royce, Toyota, Alliance-Boots, Astra-Zeneca and Bombardier.
Based around the cities of Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Lincoln and Northampton, the East Midlands has developed an environment where innovative businesses can thrive and benefit from shared resources, knowledge and expertise.
Support for innovative businesses
Businesses looking to locate in the East Midlands can benefit from an exceptional package of help and support. The East Midlands team can help businesses to establish themselves in the region. The services are confidential, free of charge and include property and site searches, regional tours and visits, introductions to research centres of excellence as well as access to financial assistance and grants.
We have also established innovation networks (iNets) in the region's key sectors. The iNets have teams of experts to help businesses to innovate. They offer a range of other services, such as grants, to enable businesses to explore new ideas and also help businesses to collaborate with universities.
Investment
A range of financial support is also available to businesses locating in the East Midlands. We have developed an ‘escalator' of investment funds to encourage the development of high growth businesses in the region, providing support programmes to help businesses secure the right funds. The support combines loans, along with equity funds and grants, which are available for research and development and capital investment.
Companies looking to develop their innovative ideas are able to apply for grants ranging from £5,000 to £250,000 through the Grant for Research and Development (GRD). In addition, businesses that are exploiting certain technologies are able to apply for funding ranging from £5,000 to £20,000, to investigate the commercial feasibility of projects.
A range of financial support is also available to businesses locating in the East Midlands
Business advice
Working through Business Link we can also help businesses to access the range of business support that is available in the region. We can provide advice on subjects ranging from support with investment, resource efficiency, taxation, product and process innovations, employment and many other issues.
In addition, UK Trade & Investment can help businesses in the East Midlands to export their products all over the world through trade shows, export training and other advice and support.
World-class centres of excellence
The East Midlands boasts many world-class facilities for exploiting technologies. Here are just a few of the outstanding centres of excellence:
- BioCity: Based in Nottingham, BioCity is one of Europe's largest bioscience incubation centres, providing 129,000 sq ft of space, hosting 60 companies, which between them employ over 500 people.
- Manufacturing Technology Centre: A new £40m national Manufacturing Technology Centre is being created at Ansty Park, near Coventry. The MTC will provide resources and a high quality environment for the development and demonstration of new technologies on an industrial scale.
- CENEX is the UK's first Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies. It links technology providers with end users, and runs the Low Carbon Knowledge Transfer Network, which provides information and best practice advice to businesses involved in the low carbon sector.
- The Energy Technologies Institute: A £1bn centre of excellence in Loughborough, which was established to speed up the deployment of carbon technologies. It involves some of the world's biggest companies, such as BP, E.ON, Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar and Shell.
- The Space Research Centre: Based at the University of Leicester, it is an international leader in sensor technology, consultancy and the design and build of imaging devices. The University is also home to G-STEP, a service that enables companies to utilise Earth observation data from satellites.
- GRACE: The University of Nottingham's world-class centre of excellence in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). GRACE provides business with access to world-leading facilities including incubation units, state of the art testing equipment, research and development laboratories and training suites.
- Sports Technology Institute: Based at Loughborough University, this is a world leading facility that enables businesses to research and develop new products and design innovations in the sports industry.
With a plethora of world-class businesses and facilities and readily available expert help and guidance, the East Midlands has something to offer for companies of all sizes.
For more information please visit www.englandeastmidlands.com
