Last week, we hosted the Medlink Midlands business support and impact celebration event at The Space Park in Leicester. Interim CEO, Melanie Davidson, was able to report that the collective ERDF Projects; INSTILS, ACTIS and SoLSTICE have seen the organisation award a total of £3.5m across 427 individual grants, which equates to £47 of investment for every £1 of public funding, delivering over 8000 hours of engagement, to the value of £1.16m.
The projects’ aims have had a significant impact on the economic growth of the life sciences sector across the region, delivering funding, support, advice and networking opportunities to numerous companies during the seven years the projects have been up and running.
Melanie added, “The funding has been instrumental in the creation of over 208 high level jobs and we’ve been able to support 391 businesses on a one-to-one basis, with a total of 66 new enterprises created in those 7 year.
Further statistics revealed included the collaboration with 79 universities, the delivery of 180 events and, most gratifying of all, 100 percent satisfaction recorded from all those that provided feedback.
Success stories from those that have benefited from the funding include, BlueSkeye AI who have developed facial recognition AI to be able to detect depression; Blum Health who offer bespoke specialist recruitment solutions throughout the healthcare system; JT Rehab Limited, inventors of the S-Press, which allows patients the ability to continue with their physiotherapy at home; iethico, who have created a technological solution to the supply and distribution of medicine shortages; Life Science Group who have created a way to deliver treatments within the cell and gene therapy industry without loss or demise; MumPod, providing innovative, safe and convenient spaces to employers and service providers supporting pregnant and breastfeeding parents; Neurotherapeutics, creators of a monitoring device aimed at alleviating or stopping the symptoms of Tourettes; Spirit Health who work with the NHS to deliver a new way of delivering healthcare to those in the community; Surepulse, creators of a device to help newborns; and VUIT, a company providing data analytics to health care providers to allow better understanding and more targeted practice of health in the community.
With the established skills, knowledge, expertise, networking and connections in place, Medilink Midlands will continue to deliver relevant industry support, and whilst the ERDF funding has now concluded, we are delighted to be able to announce the launch of another new business support programme for those based in the East Midlands, MeTAP.
Presented by Innovation Advisor, Dr Caroline Sykes, MeTAP aims to assist start-ups with various support streams, including the Innovation Accelerator Programme. Working in partnership with the University of Nottingham, the aim of MeTAP is to support companies to accelerate innovation and provide the right skills and tools to enable companies to increase their competitive advantage.
Dr Ben Roberts, West Midlands Innovation Advisor and Sustainability Champion spoke about the West Midlands Innovation Accelerator fund – part of the Government’s Levelling up white paper – and what we can expect to see from and through that following its launch. Medilink Midlands has a planned event on July 5, giving more information on what businesses can expect from the programme.
A presentation by the British Business Bank’s, Lewis Stringer, Senior Manager, UK Network – East & South East Midlands, was well received in which Lewis outlined the financial options for the Midlands and how they will be assigned to help SME’s to move forward.
Finally, Dr Helen Compton, Stakeholder Engagement Manager for the NIHR Co-ordinator Centre, laid out how the NIHR operates and how access to funding and support for start-ups and SMEs can be achieved through their various project pathways for companies who’s innovation or service will deliver patient benefit.
All presentations have been uploaded to the website and can be found here