Regional Growth Fund round three application for high performance technology sector, Northamptonshire

Client: Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership
Location: Northamptonshire
Date: 2012

Services: Economic development

We were instructed by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (a Local Enterprise Partnership) to scope and prepare an application for round three of the Governments’ Regional Growth Fund programme.  Our brief was to scope and develop a programme of business support measures that would support the high performance technology sector based in and around the county.

Working closely with a group of senior representatives from high performance technology companies we collected views on what type of support different companies from within the sector needed to survive and grow.  Reflecting this, the final programme contained a Major and Minor Business Investment Fund for plant and machinery, an Innovation Fund to support early stage R&D and knowledge transfer and an International Fund to support exports and inward investment activity.

Following consultation with local and national BIS offices and sector stakeholders, the application was submitted on schedule.  In October 2012 BIS confirmed that the application had been successful and this important investment would be made in the sub-region.

Specific services:

• Statistical research into the high performance technology sector

• Research and development of targeted business support measures and funding programme design

• Stakeholder consultation and concept testing with leading industry figures

• Completion of funding application and technical additionality appendices

Outputs:

• Stakeholder commitment and support for the content of programme which reflected industry need

• Completion and submission of a compliant Regional Growth Fund round 3 application

Links to key sites of relevance:

• Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership

Top photographs courtesy of John Emslie, Urban Flow.