NIMTECH's past projects can broadly be categorised as follows:
Blue Sky Resorts Network (2004 to
2007)
This programme was part-funded by the European Union’s Regional Development
Fund and managed by NIMTECH on behalf of Blackpool Council. It was designed
to encourage local tourism businesses to adopt environmentally sustainable practices
and to recognise the efforts of those that successfully implemented them. It
placed great emphasis on training and awareness, so the people involved could
continue to make a positive and long term contribution to sustainability, even
if they moved on to work in other businesses. BSRN enabled hoteliers and other
SMEs to have a free environmental audit that identified opportunities to reduce
waste and energy costs, and promoted those that implemented the recommendations
through an awards scheme. More information can be found at: www.green-tourism-awards.org.uk.
In all, the project assisted 186 businesses and helped them to make savings valued at more than £2.9 million.
Centre for Waste Management (2004
to 2007)
The CWM programme was devised by NIMTECH and led by the University of Central
Lancashire. Funded by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund,
it operated in parts of North and West Lancashire and was supported by a number
of organisations including Envirolink and the North & Western Lancashire
Chamber of Commerce. It addressed a range of waste management issues, including
energy efficiency, and sought to improve the efficiency and profitability of
SME businesses including manufacturers and service sector companies. It featured
an awards event, which recognised companies that had achieved outstanding results,
and enabled its beneficiaries to make savings valued at well over £3 million.
It proved so successful, in fact, that a successor project has now been launched
– the North West Centre for Waste Management. (See our Current
Projects section for details.)
Sustourex (2004 to 2007)
Sustourex was an ERDF funded programme led by the North & Western Lancashire
Chamber of Commerce. Originally developed by NIMTECH, it promoted excellence
in the field of sustainable tourism and provided free environmental consultancy
support for eligible SMEs. Sustourex assisted 37 small businesses including
hotels, guesthouses and tourist attractions, as well as SMEs in the tourism
industry supply chain. It helped business managers to identify opportunities
to minimise waste – including both material waste and the consumption
of ever more expensive utilities – and thereby enabled them to achieve
cost savings of approximately £175,000. Many of these savings will be
made year on year, so the long term impact of the programme is expected to be
very substantial.
In addition to helping companies to improve their environmental performance,
Sustourex addressed another important factor, namely, promoting their achievements
to their target markets. In order to ensure that companies derived maximum benefit
from their investment, the project helped them by publicising their work through
local and national media and via the Green Tourism Awards scheme. Award winners
were featured in printed, digital and broadcast media.
More information and case studies can be found on the Green Tourism Awards website.
Environet 2000 (1999
to 2001)
Environet 2000 was a multi-partner programme funded by the European Union, which
involved the support of leading consultancy organisations from across the UK.
It focused on eight key sectors including the chemical industry, pharmaceuticals,
foundries, textiles and many others. It assisted nearly 100 companies ranging
from SMEs to major food and petrochemical organisations, and enabled the beneficiary
businesses to make savings valued at several million pounds the first year alone.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & REGENERATION
The Chamber Business Advantage
Network (CBAN)
In 2004, NIMTECH worked with North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce
and Lancaster Chamber to develop the CBAN programme. Using ERDF funding –
initially only in fully eligible areas – the project sought to make high
quality consultancy support available to the SME community and to create new
commercial opportunities through knowledge transfer and the creation of networking
opportunities. In addition to providing project management and administrative
support, NIMTECH staff also provided direct consultancy assistance to many SMEs,
and the programme proved so successful that in 2006, the partners were invited
to extend it to cover transitionally eligible areas of Lancashire. In all, the
project assisted more than 220 companies and enabled them to achieve £5.6
million in new sales. By the end of the programme, beneficiary companies reported
the creation of 75 new jobs and the safeguarding of £6.4 million worth
of sales.
Marketing consultancy accounts for a significant proportion of NIMTECH’s business support work for beneficiary SMEs. In projects such as CBAN – the Chamber Business Advantage Network – NIMTECH Provided marketing support for a wide arrange of businesses, assisting with direct mail campaigns, undertaking media relations work, designing new websites and providing active support with promotional events. NIMTECH has also provided companies with strategic support, helping with brand development and the introduction of new products and services.
Effective marketing is also essential for the effective delivery of publicly funded projects and NIMTECH has an excellent track record in this field. Successful promotional activity has underpinned the success of many past programmes including CBAN, Sustourex, the Blue Sky Resorts Network and many others. NIMTECH’s marketing team has taken responsibility for disseminating the results of previous programmes and for organising events to ensure that other organisations can benefit from lessons learned and examples of best practice.
Globaltech
Globaltech was a trade development project that was financed by the ERDF and
operated in both Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Its aim was to help North
West firms to set up business links worldwide. It helped businesses across a
range of sectors to find partners for collaborative ventures or simply to win
new export custom. Other arrangements facilitated by NIMTECH included distributorships,
sub-contracting, patents and manufacturing licences. The project operated through
employees and associates in Western and Central Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle
East, Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea and India. The project followed the success
of the Eurotech project, which helped to set up European business deals worth
in excess of £10 million.
TEMPO
Training for Export Marketing Projects Overseas (TEMPO) was established to help
firms to enter the export market for the first time and to help existing exporters
to target new markets. It entailed product assessments, market reviews, strategic
planning and direct representation by NIMTECH staff in the target markets. The
aim of this process was to make the export development process as affordable,
transparent and cost effective as possible. In many cases, a second phase then
began in which NIMTECH staff would provide advice and links to partner organisations
which could assist with further product development and marketing plans. The
project was funded by the European Regional Development programme under Objective
1 for Merseyside.
Matrix
Matrix was a detailed survey of the manufacturing expertise of some 6,000 organisations
of all sizes in the North West. The findings were compiled as a database of
manufacturing technology which was distributed to technology agencies throughout
the world, as well as to North West businesses. Funded by ERDF Objective 1 for
Merseyside and Objective 2 for Greater Manchester, the project assisted many
hundreds of companies to develop international links and new opportunities for
overseas trade.
Other Projects
NIMTECH has a long association with international trade promotion. Through its
offices in India, South America and Central Europe, and its involvement with
international EU funded projects such as SESA, it has been actively in the support
of trade missions and major industry exhibitions for well over a decade. In
the late 1990s, it became the UK host office for the United Nations Industrial
Development Organisation, which transferred to the Northwest Development Agency
in 2003 when it became the UK Investment and Technology Promotion Office. Over
the same period, NIMTECH also organised annual trade missions to the Industria
and Ökotech trade exhibitions in Hungary.
In more recent years, we have focused our efforts towards individually targeted support for SMEs seeking to develop new export markets, and disseminating best practice in field such as sustainable tourism, social enterprise and crime reduction to other EU member states.
SusTourex, CBAN et al
In addition to our work in the field of sustainable tourism, we have also been
very active in helping to develop clusters of small, independent tourism businesses.
For such SMEs, there are many advantages to be gained from co-operation including
cost savings from group purchasing and the production of joint marketing materials,
creating greater customer awareness through collaborative promotional activity
and events, the creation of cross selling opportunities and the effective transmission
of information and news about new sales opportunities. Through our work in helping
to establish groups such as the Bowland Experience, we have developed considerable
expertise that can be used to generate similar benefits elsewhere in the UK
and Europe.
Rural Recovery Project
In 2001, the UK suffered a serious outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, which
had an enormous and much publicised effect on the farming / livestock industries.
In an effort to mitigate the economic problems associated with the outbreak,
economic regeneration and farming diversification projects were instigated across
the country, and in Lancashire, the County Council agreed to launch a business
support programme that was delivered by Enterprise plc and NIMTECH as its joint
venture partner. The project assisted many farms and rural tourism businesses,
supporting new ventures and helping land owners to develop new, commercially
viable products and services that would help to minimise their short term dependence
on livestock.
Lancaster Innovation & Technology Management
In 2002, working in collaboration with our joint venture partner, Enterprise
plc, NIMTECH staff managed and delivered the Lancaster Innovation & Technology
Management programme, an EU funded initiative that provided support for SMEs
seeking to introduce and benefit from new technologies. These included ICT innovations
and improvements, such as introducing e-commerce and new ICT systems for applications
including stock management, logistics and process control. They also included
new production techniques and equipment, environmental management systems and
energy saving products.
DEVICE
The Development of Ideas for Commercial Exploitation project (DEVICE) was a
UK government subsidised scheme which helped inventors to bring their ideas
to the marketplace. It provided advice about patents and legal protection for
ideas; assessments of possible applications; market reviews; a directory of
ideas, which was distributed to companies seeking new products and processes
to develop; R&D support; identification of potential investors; and assistance
with the preparation of legal agreements.
Other Projects
NIMTECH has also played a vital role in many other technology oriented and knowledge
transfer projects and events, such as the above mentioned Industria trade show,
the Envirenergy exhibition and various sector specific programmes designed to
assist SMEs in fields such as aerospace, CNC engineering and the automotive
industry. For many years, we operated the North West England office of the Innovation
Relay Centre, and we have worked with many designers and manufacturers of innovative
products designed to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency.
Various Projects
In addition to helping profit-making SMEs, NIMTECH has also been able to provide
consultancy support for charities and social enterprises through many of its
previous programmes. Examples of assistance have included ‘hands-on’
marketing support for charitable care organisations, website development work
for voluntary groups working with ethic minority communities, support for commercial
diversification by local community centres, and work with HM Prison Service
to create training and employment opportunities for ex-offenders as part of
a crime reduction programme. (See also the EMPRISE
project website.)
Artech Manchester / Artech Wirral / Createx
In 1998, NIMTECH launched a project called Artech in collaboration with Salford
University. The project sought to provide business advice and marketing support
for new artists within the city in an effort to help them forge new careers
in the creative industries sector. It was recognised that new artists invariably
possess the creative skills necessary to for a successful business but that
they often lacked vital commercial skills, such as business planning, financial
control and marketing. Furthermore, it was recognised that artists often lack
the resources necessary either to promote themselves effectively or –
at that time – to gain access to the internet and other useful business
resources. With these factors in mind, Artech Manchester set out to bring together
a group of 18 artists and to provide them with various forms of support including
a dedicated website with individual artists’ profiles and examples of
their work, promotional literature and an office where they could call in to
use the internet, send faxes, use a colour printer and make calls to potential
clients. The project also provided a valuable opportunity for the individuals
to meet and share ideas, it arranged a series of skills development seminars
and a succession of exhibitions at which they could display their works.
The project proved to be such a success that the same
project principles were subsequently applied to two further projects –
one in the Wirral and another, called Createx, in Nottingham. The latter was
supported by Business Link Nottinghamshire. Both were highly effective and highlights
included national media coverage on both television and radio and special exhibitions
in Scandinavia and the United States.
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