Over the past 12 months EEDA has distributed grants to over 30 companies, reiterating its commitment to drive the East of England’s innovation agenda. And earlier this month it held an awards ceremony for them at the TWI Conference Centre in Great Abingdon.
“The East of England has an impressive record in research and development,” said David Marlow, EEDA chief executive, “and a higher percentage of our region’s contribution to the UK economy is spent on this than in any other region. “The majority of R&D in the East of England is carried out by large multi-national companies, therefore it is essential that we support the region’s smaller businesses too. Although they have groundbreaking ideas, smaller companies often have very few spare resources, so these grants enable them to invest in their future and achieve growth in new and pioneering areas.”
EEDA is committed to helping both small and medium-sized companies in the region bring new products and processes to market, and R&D grants are one of the core ways it does this.
Two of the companies to receive the awards are Sentinel Oncology from Shefford, Bedfordshire, which received £74,000 to carry out research into the development of anti-cancer drugs, and Objective Imaging in Stow cum Quy, Cambridge, which received £75,000 to help it develop a world-class microscope product.
Stuart Travers, director of Sentinel Oncology, said: “The R&D grant we received from the East of England Development Agency has been critical in taking our research forward. It has allowed us to take Sentinel Oncology from the theory into the development stage and conduct practical tests. These have shown extremely positive results. We received the grant just six months ago, and as a consequence of this we are now attracting additional funding from private backers who can see that we are a venture worth investing in.”
Further information regarding grants for research and development is available from the EEDA ‘about us’ section of the EEDA website.
Grants for research and development are aimed at individuals planning to start up businesses and at existing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These grants are discretionary and offered to help businesses carry out research or development work that will lead to technologically innovative products or processes.
