Aerospace UP is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which helps businesses to access funding and expertise to improve their performance through innovation in all aspects of their enterprise. As a pan-Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) project, Aerospace UP is available to SMEs in the following 8 Midlands LEP areas.
- Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
- Black Country
- Greater Birmingham and Solihull
- Coventry and Warwickshire
- Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
- Leicester and Leicestershire
- South East Midlands
- Greater Lincolnshire
What support is available?
There are many ways in which Aerospace UP can support SMEs, and once enrolled on the Programme, the Delivery Team will work with you to tailor a package of help based around your business needs. This package may include one or more of the following:
- Free access to expert support and workshops covering a wide range of subjects, including new technologies, process innovation, productivity improvement, business systems etc.
- Student and graduate support opportunities, both fully funded and part-funded, including internships and industrial placements
- Grants between £1,000 and up to £100,000 over up to 18 months for collaborative research projects which demonstrate innovation in technology, processes, business systems, or work organisation etc.
Fully-funded support packages provided through the University’s Precision Manufacturing Centre, including: consultancy on design for manufacture, access to machines and technical staff, prototyping, metrology, toolmaking etc.
How it works
It is not essential to have any particular project in mind at the beginning of your engagement with the Aerospace UP Delivery Team, but it may be useful to think beforehand about the areas where the Programme might be able to provide assistance. These might include:
- ideas for new technology, business systems or processes which would help to grow your business, improve productivity, differentiate you from your competition, or give you a competitive advantage
- ideas to improve efficiency, reduce cost of manufacture or lead time
- problems you may be experiencing where assistance might be useful—e.g. finding the right expertise and experience, introducing your staff to new technologies, getting interest in new ideas from potential customers
- mapping out how your company could potentially evolve to meet future market and customer requirements
- any quality or delivery issues where solutions might be available, but at a cost Aerospace UP may be able to part-fund
- particular problems in the manufacture of new products where the assistance of experts might be helpful
After checking your company is eligible to benefit from Aerospace UP, we will start your Aerospace UP journey with scoping meetings to help us better understand your business and its innovation challenges. The Delivery Team will then work closely with you to identify a package comprised of the different types of support available that is tailored to your needs.
Contact the delivery team
To find out more about the programme and eligibility, contact our team:
AerospaceUP@nottingham.ac.uk
