News - Cornwalls businesses and universities working together to drive growth
In amongst all the gloom of the economic downturn, we are more used to hearing about cutbacks than investment - yet according to two recent reports, that is exactly what is happening in the world of innovation and research. Results published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) show that the top one thousand companies in the UK invested more than £25.3bn on developing new products, services and productivity in 2009 - a decrease of only 0.6% despite the economic downturn. Some sectors even increased their research investment.
Additional figures from the UK Innovation Survey 2009 show that this national trend is mirrored in the South West. 331 businesses in the region sought help with innovation from a local university or higher education provider and 78 said help from universities was highly important to their business. Some of the things universities were able to help with included: increasing the range of goods and services, entering new markets, improving the quality of goods and services and reducing environmental impact.
Within Cornwall, businesses of all shapes and sizes are working with the Combined Universities in Cornwall partner institutions to research and develop innovative products and practices.
Amanda Barlow, Managing Director of Spiezia Organics told us: "We found that our engagement with Unlocking Cornish Potential significantly and positively improved our business performance. As a result of the mentoring and support provided, we reduced our production costs by 28% and have also significantly increased sales during the past 5 months. Henry Jasper who we took on as a graduate has gone on to develop some new 100% organic products which the business will be launching in the next 12 months, enabling us to expand and develop potential markets."
Mike Reynolds, Port Operations Director at Falmouth Harbour Commission has also been working on innovation with CUC partners. "We continue to seek opportunities to collaborate with CUC and particularly PRIMaRE in the field of Marine Renewable Energy research. We believe that by working with those researching in this field we can realise the potential it has to provide us with a major new source of revenue."
Marian Bond, CUC Business Support Manager is proud of the growing number of local businesses working with universities on innovation. "Whilst these surveys give us a great general overview of the way businesses and universities are interacting, it is exciting to see so many real examples of how our local higher education providers are really helping businesses. With a wide variety of services on offer, CUC institutions are working with businesses and other support partners to make a real difference to their development and continuous improvement agendas."