Coventry University has successfully assembled £1m of
investment which it will be using to help businesses within the
region to overcome the effects of the recession.
The Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF) will enable
businesses to access specialist expertise and services from the
University. The key aim is to provide direct support to individuals
and businesses by tackling skills, employment and a range of
business issues raised by the current economic crisis.
Derek Griffiths, programme director for ECIF said: "As a
business-facing university we are committed to supporting companies
in the economic downturn. This new fund means we can make our
expertise and facilities available to even more of the companies
that are being affected."
The support will be delivered in a number of ways including
training courses, mentoring, specialist consultancy and product
development initiatives. There are five different packages of
support on offer, three of which are targeted specifically at the
automotive, creative industries and ICT sectors. The fund includes
a voucher scheme that can pay up to £3,000 towards the cost
of a range of specialist Coventry University services.
The University has already received a number of applications for
support, since the scheme started in June. It will run until
September 2010, however, interest is already gathering pace so
don't miss out - make contact now to see what help might be
available to you.
A launch event is planned for 27th August where you can find out
much more about the scheme and meet with representatives from the
University that are responsible for delivering it. For further
details, please contact Carley Rimmer on
c.rimmer@coventry.ac.uk
The scheme is partly funded by The Higher Education Funding
Council for England (HEFCE) as part of its Employer Engagement
Programme.