Advantage West Midlands' ICT Cluster is inviting regional technology companies to provide information to populate its fully searchable online directory of technology businesses and support organisations in the West Midlands.  

AWMist (A Web Map-based Information Search Tool), the first regional resource of its kind, aims to facilitate business collaboration, innovation and partnerships. The new online resource will include: businesses, research groups; business support projects; funding agencies; and other organisations that can assist the private sector.

Companies should register via AWMist's registration page https://www.awmist.org/registration to ensure that their information will be included. When registering please state the business' name in the comments section.

ICT Cluster research shows that, despite high-profile publicity, many businesses are still not aware of the full range of support and services that are available within the region. For example, whilst the government stresses the importance of innovation and R&D for business by engaging with local universities, less than 2% of ICT SMEs have actually engaged.

Mike Musson, ICT Cluster Manager explains: "One of the factors behind this low level of engagement is that 74% of SMEs in the region have less than 11 employees and are therefore invisible to universities and support agencies. AWMist addresses this by making all companies visible, through a personalised profile on the online directory, and by providing access to organisations that are active in the commercial and innovation/R&D world."

Company profiles are being created using data derived from the ICT Cluster's mapping and research project, undertaken over the last four years.  The ICT Cluster is inviting all technology SMEs to register for this free service to raise their profile.