Business Articles

23rd August 2005 - East Midlands Development Agency

£7.5 million to translate brain power to the balance sheet

Small businesses in the East Midlands that are developing cutting edge products and processes will have the chance to apply for £7.5 million in grants over the next three years with the expansion of a scheme today.

The Grant for research and Development (GRD) will be funded and managed by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), with additional funding also secured from the European Regional Development Fund.

Jonathan Lowe, emda's Head of Business Investment, said: "Our Business Support Strategy puts innovative businesses at its heart, and we are now taking steps to make good that commitment. This scheme will give firms with truly fresh ideas the chance to turn those ideas into authentic commercial ventures, aiding our attempts to push the East Midlands into Europe's top twenty regions."

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched the scheme in June 2003, to replace the previous SMART award.

A £45,000 grant awarded to promote research and development helped a Derbyshire business will help doctors decide whether a baby needs to be born naturally or by Caesarian section much quicker than it currently takes.

Former bio-chemist Eddie Adamowicz developed the Cinimod Scalp Pen with medical approval and will launch it in the UK, Russia and Italy later this year before launching it worldwide in 2006.

Eddie, managing director of Cinimod Ltd, said: "The number of caesarean sections has doubled in the last 10 years, and pressure is now on to reduce this figure. There was a need there for this type of equipment and with the grant we were able to carry out more research and actually make it happen."

Cinimod is just one of the East Midlands' small and medium sized companies to have benefited from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Grant for Research and Development.

emda was handed responsibility for administering the scheme by the DTI in April; since when the agency has been reviewing the bidding process. Last year, the scheme was run as a series of regional competitions but companies will now be allowed to apply for a grant at any time and, unlike other schemes, applications are welcome from anywhere in the East Midlands.

Jonathan added: "We want to make this process as fair as possible so eligible companies get the assistance they need to develop their plans - and put the East Midlands at the forefront of innovative business."

For more information visit www.emda.org.uk/grd.

Projects in Derbyshire
Paul Moss 0115 988 8596

1. The East Midlands Development Agency was set up in 1999 to bring more jobs and skills to the region and to make the East Midlands a better place to live and work. By 2010 emda wants the East Midlands to be one of the top 20 regions in Europe. The latest figures from Eurostat show the East Midlands is already well on its way, moving from 35th to 28th place out of the 71 European regions.

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