University awarded £6m for local business growth programme

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27 Mar 2015 18:10:23.283

The University of Nottingham has been awarded funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, to provide grants which will enable businesses in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to fulfil their growth potential.

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Grants of up to £250k
The ‘N2 Business Growth Programme’ which could result in funding of £6m to support businesses in the city and county (subject to due diligence), will provide grants ranging from £20k to £250k. The grants will be available for businesses seeking to grow via capital investment in equipment or infrastructure, exploitation of intellectual property and new technologies.

The programme will be delivered by The University of Nottingham together with East Midlands Business Ltd, and is supported by organisations including the D2N2 LEP, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and the Chamber of Commerce.

Although applications will be considered from businesses in all industries, there will be a focus on key sectors which have been identified as being vital to the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire economies, including life sciences, digital content, clean technologies and advanced manufacturing.

Creating and safeguarding jobs
The ‘N2 Business Growth Programme’ builds on the success of the previous Nottingham Technology Grant Fund (N’Tech), managed by Nottingham City Council, which provided £9.7 million of grant funding to 85 businesses, creating and safeguarding more than 2,000 jobs.

Speaking about the award of the ‘N2 Business Growth Programme’ Dan King, Business and Local Partnerships Manager at The University of Nottingham, said: “There is a real desire amongst all local partners to bring expertise and resources together in order to support local businesses and give them every opportunity to achieve their growth potential. The N2 Business Growth Programme will also play a vital role in helping businesses in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire secure the finance they need in order to kick-start growth.”

Councillor Nick MacDonald, Portfolio Holder for Jobs and Growth at Nottingham City Council, commented: "A number of people worked very hard to land this bid, so it's really great news that it’s been successful. It was a highly competitive process. We are thankful to The University of Nottingham for leading the bid. This programme will allow us create more jobs in the area, and also to support local employers in some of our key sectors to grow and develop."

Supporting business growth
Councillor Diana Meale, Chair of Economic Development Committee at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “We know through the level of interest in the County Council’s Economic Development Fund, which is supporting business growth and job creation in Nottinghamshire, that there is a huge demand for support of this nature.

“This is fantastic news for Nottinghamshire’s prospects for accelerated growth and I am proud that the County Council has played a role in developing the bid. The University of Nottingham, with its many areas of expertise is ideally placed to lead the delivery of the programme, and they do so with our total support.”

The N2 Business Growth Programme is just one of two awards in the East Midlands in Round 6 of the Regional Growth Fund. Dan King added: “The University of Nottingham has been fortunate enough in recent months to also secure investment for a new Technology Entrepreneurship Centre which will provide incubation support for technology entrepreneurs. In addition, we are also investing in a new Institute for Advanced Manufacturing which will make world-class expertise and technologies available to local businesses.

“These initiatives, together with others that our partners are running in the City and County will hopefully help to give local businesses the competitive edge that they need to develop and grow.”

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More information is available from Nick King, Marketing Projects Manager, University of Nottingham, +44 (0)115 82 32184, or email nicholas.king@nottingham.ac.uk or from Tim Utton on +44 (0)115 84 68092 or email tim.utton@nottingham.ac.uk

Our academics can now be interviewed for broadcast via our Media Hub, which offers a Globelynx fixed camera and ISDN line facilities at University Park campus. For further information please contact a member of the Communications team on +44 (0)115 951 5798, email mediahub@nottingham.ac.uk or see the Globelynx website for how to register for this service. For up to the minute media alerts, follow us on Twitter

Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also the most popular university in the UK among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the World’s Top 75 universities by the QS World University Rankings.

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fundraising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future.

About the Government’s Regional Growth Fund
The Government’s Regional Growth Fund has invested nearly £3 billion to help businesses in England to grow; so far generating over 100,000 jobs.  56 new awards in Round 6 and seven through exceptional RGF support -announced on 12 February 2015, gives £297 million to 63 projects and programmes to create and safeguard thousands more jobs and unlock an additional £1.5 billion private sector investment

Story credits

For more details about the N2 Business Growth Programme, contact Dr Dan King, Head of Business and Local Partnerships on +44(0)115 95 13946
Nick King  

Nick King - Marketing and Communications Manager, Energy Research Accelerator (ERA)

Email: nicholas.king@nottingham.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)115 74 86727 Location: Coates Building, Faculty of Engineering, University Park Nottingham

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