October 2016

Innovation Birmingham, Alta Innovations and the University of Birmingham have secured £2.05m funding from the European Union to deliver business support and incubation services for the city’s hi-tech entrepreneurs and SMEs.

University of Birmingham commercialisation teams, in addition to The Birmingham BioHub®, a purpose-built facility that provides entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups with access to affordable laboratory facilities and equipment.

In addition to technical support, businesses will benefit from local professional experts through a combination of one-to-one structured support, workshops and networking events. They will be able to locate themselves within co-working spaces at either the E4F Incubator on the Innovation Birmingham Campus, the focal point for Birmingham’s tech/digital community or the BizzInn Incubator. Support will be provided to eligible companies free of charge, typically over a period of up to nine months.

Katharine Fuller, head of projects at Innovation Birmingham, said: “With over 14,152 companies launched in Birmingham last year alone, the region continues to be a hotspot for entrepreneurialism and, with a large, skilled and youthful workforce, established infrastructure and strong digital connectivity, it is vital that we continue facilitate and support new and existing talent by providing the necessary conditions for them to thrive.

“This funding will go some way towards achieving this goal and BizzInn will be a fantastic addition in delivering the next phase of this project.”

David Coleman, head of enterprise acceleration at the University of Birmingham, said: “Through the close collaboration of our respective hi-tech support programmes, we’re providing stronger and more identifiable places for hi-tech entrepreneurs and businesses in Birmingham to access support.  Our interventions will help teams at all stages, from proving the viability of their concept, to building teams and relevant supplier or customer contacts, to attracting finance.”

Since the launch of the Entrepreneurs for the Future programme in November 2009, over 136 tech start-ups have been created, with £12.3m of investment secured during initial funding rounds. As part of the incubator programme, qualifying innovative start-ups receive up to nine months’ office space, mentoring, use of video conferencing equipment and meeting room and superfast broadband at the Innovation Birmingham Campus.

Serviceteam IT has announced it has achieved a Silver Cloud Productivity Competency, thereby demonstrating readiness to meet the evolving needs of Microsoft customers in today’s dynamic business environment. Increasing numbers of businesses are looking to transition to Office 365, as a result of it’s enhanced productivity and security features. However, in what can be a challenging and complex process, Serviceteam IT have demonstrated their capacity to successfully deliver and support Microsoft’s suite of Office 365 services. In earning a silver competency, Serviceteam IT has placed amongst the top 5 percent of Microsoft Partners Worldwide.

In recognising the future of cloud-based technologies, Serviceteam IT also provide Connectivity Services such as Leased Line Fibre Ethernet, Cloud Security, and Amazon Web services. Most recently they have been working with fellow Research Park tenant, Arun Luther of Genesis Innovations, to streamline business communications with IP Telephony.

Figures published in 2016 by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) have confirmed that the Clinical Research Network (CRN) West Midlands is the highest recruiting Network in England.

The NIHR is the research arm of the NHS, and this research is delivered and supported by 15 local Networks. In the last ten years the Network has recruited 544,115 participants into high quality studies across the West Midlands – 64,278 of these in the last 12 months alone; the highest in the country.

Ultimately, clinical research means patients get access to new treatments, interventions and medicines, and investment in research means better, more cost-effective patient care. And with more than 3,000 different studies available in the West Midlands across 30 health specialties, Network Clinical Director Professor Jeremy Kirk explains how over the last decade the region has earned its reputation as the most active in the country.

Professor Kirk commented: “It is a fantastic reflection of the hard work and enthusiasm of our dedicated staff and researchers within the Clinical Research Network West Midlands that we have recruited over 64,000 patients this year into portfolio studies, the largest number of any region in England. Moreover, that since the formation of the NIHR 10 years ago we have recruited more patients than anyone else not only confirms our regional credentials as a research powerhouse, but has also meant that over half a million patients regionally have been recruited into high quality studies.

“The more patients that we can encourage to take part in vital clinical research, the quicker the NHS can introduce new and better treatments for the benefit of all patients, as well as using NHS resources more efficiently.”

Participants have been recruited from every NHS Trust in the West Midlands, from more than half of the region’s GP practices, and in hospices, nursing homes, pharmacies, schools and prisons.

David Loughton, Chief Executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which hosts the Network, adds: “The success of the CRN in the West Midlands is testament to a lot of hard work, commitment and excellence and as a Trust we are delighted with this success story.”

A British tech start-up has invented a world-first multi-function antenna for laptops that fits into the extremely limited space of the hinge cavity.