County businesses in line for £1.9m funding boost

The Centre for Research into Environmental Science and Technology (CREST), which will be based at the Guildhall in Shrewsbury and will bring together a range of experts to help businesses grow and succeed.

They will work with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the county. Support will be provided through research and specialist advice, and helping SMEs to develop innovative ideas and products before bringing them to market. This will include workshops to learn about new technologies and opportunities, and researcher placements.

The centre will create a number of jobs including business development managers and researchers, and aims to create several more by December 2019.

The £1.97 million project has been made possible by a European Regional Development Fund grant of almost £1.2 million awarded to UCS, via the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, as well as a contribution of almost £800,000 from the University of Chester.

CREST will support businesses offering services and products in areas including: groundwater; contaminated land; bio fuels and energy; flooding and hydrology; ecology; bioscience; air quality; noise and dust pollution and sustainable/smart housing for rural communities.

Paul Kirkbright, UCS deputy provost, said: “We are thrilled to have secured this funding to contribute to strengthening the county’s business economy and creating new jobs.

“UCS is already contributing to the vitality of the area by bringing wide-ranging academic and industry experts together under one roof, creating jobs for teaching and support staff, and our hundreds of students are using businesses and services, working and joining organisations locally.”

Jon Britten, CREST project manager, added: “It’s important that the region contributes to the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy which is about growing our national income while cutting carbon emissions - and this is a key focus of the centre.

“Many businesses are not in a position where they can afford to explore new ideas to grow, or may not have even considered that they can benefit from activities such as research and specialist guidance on development and innovation."

For more information contact business development managers, Simon Burgess at s.burgess@chester.ac.uk or on 07816 306697, or Vicki Ayton at v.ayton@chester.ac.uk or on 07880 784733.

The centre will be officially launched on February 15 from 6pm to 8pm. It will feature a keynote speech from Dr David Gregory-Kumar, science, environment and rural affairs correspondent for the BBC in the West Midlands, and presenter for BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme. Presentations will also be given by leading academic Professor Roy Alexander and chair of the centre’s industry advisory panel, Adrian Platt.

The launch event is free and open to all, but people are asked to book places at crestlaunch.eventbrite.co.uk