University of Wolverhampton secures £2.4m business support contract

THE University of Wolverhampton has secured a £2.4m contract to continue of an SME business support scheme.

The Innovative Product Support Service (IPSS) project funds development work carried out at the university’s Faculty of Science and Engineering on behalf of eligible SMEs developing innovative products to launch on the market.  It is anticipated that over 200 companies will have been supported by spring 2019.

IPSS is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and companies can access the scheme through the Black Country, Greater Birmingham & Solihull, Stoke & Staffordshire and the Marches LEP’s Growth Hubs.

In addition to the faculty’s skills in Design, Engineering Analysis and the commercial aspects of New Product Introduction, IPSS also offers access to specialist resources available from partners at Aston University and Birmingham City University.

Abi Hopkins, Project Manager, said: “We were delighted to get official notification of the new contract which recognises the benefits for business that came out of our first IPSS project that finished a few months ago.

“The on-going demand for help has been high – a positive indication that the project is offering the type of support that businesses require. It’s also really encouraging that we have already seen a surge in applications from across the region.”

Professor Andrew Pollard, the Project Director responsible for securing the funding, said: “IPSS gives companies an introduction to working in collaboration with the university, and that initial engagement often grows into a bigger partnership.

“We assisted over 200 companies in the first project, one of which featured recently on Dragons’ Den, so the level of support available is significant to businesses.”

This time, the IPSS project includes funded support for a number of research collaborations.  These are designed to support eligible research projects carried out by university researchers in collaboration with SME companies.

“We’ve got high aims to grow and develop our research impact through this scheme,” added prof Pollard.

The project is now open for applications for support and will run until April 2019.