Pictured: (l-r)  Ben Eason, Grant Thornton; Simon Jenner, Birmingham Science Park Aston; David White, Grant Thornton

Members of Birmingham Science Park Aston's (BSPA) specialist technology business incubator will receive a further boost thanks to the Birmingham office of financial and business advisory firm Grant Thornton.

The international firm is the latest organisation to sponsor BSPA's Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) initiative, which provides start-up businesses working in the technology sectors with assistance and guidance to help them get their ideas off the ground.

The e4f incubator is open to technology start-up businesses and provides funding support, office space and access to a state-of-the-art technology, including super-fast broadband for up to six months. Alongside the sponsorship, Grant Thornton will also be providing a mentoring programme and drop-in sessions, covering aspects of business including financing and business advice, strategy and VAT issues.

Simon Jenner, Head of Incubation, Birmingham Science Park Aston, said: "Grant Thornton is an established and highly respected professional services organisation and I am extremely pleased that they have decided to provide their extensive expertise to our e4f programme. For the businesses in e4f, this level of support is vital for their development, providing them with both the fundamental infrastructure and specialist knowledge and experience of an established professional company."

"Birmingham Science Park Aston is fast becoming recognised as one of the UK's preeminent Science Parks and support hubs of fledgling technology businesses. With our Science Parks Without Walls initiative, we are able to provide an outstanding level of service to our entrepreneurs and help them to develop into income-generating businesses."

David White, Partner at Grant Thornton, said: "This is a truly great opportunity for us to support innovative companies that are working on some genuinely exciting projects. We appreciate that young entrepreneurs often require technical guidance and practical advice to help get their business up and running, and we are delighted to be able to provide our experience and expertise to the companies taking part in e4f. 

Ben Eason, business development manager at Grant Thornton, who introduced the e4f initiative to the firm, said: "Having the opportunity to help these companies develop and grow their businesses is a very attractive opportunity for Grant Thornton, as our focus is on advising entrepreneurial businesses and our specialism is in high-tech companies. As part of our sponsorship, Grant Thornton will be providing mentoring sessions for these embryonic businesses, which will cover tax, funding as well as general business advice."

Grant Thornton is the second professional services organisation to provide sponsorship for e4f, following Marks & Clerk LLP's appointment last month.

Based at BSPA, the e4f Centre is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.  Since launching in November 2009, the e4f programme has seen 35 per cent of start-up businesses go on to become revenue generating companies in their own right after completing their time on the programme.

BSPA recently launched the third phase of the e4f programme, which included the addition of more offices and desk space, enabling the programme to support up to 50 companies a year.