£20m boost for West Midlands green SME sector
Green SME news – by GreenWise staff
26th July 2013
Small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the West Midlands region looking to grow and diversify their businesses in the green economy are being invited to apply for a share of £20 million of new funding.
The Green Bridge Supply Chain Programme is a new SME competition funded through the Government’s Regional Growth Fund and targeting SMEs already operating or looking to set up in green sectors, including renewable energy, low carbon building technologies, manufacturing, logistics and transport.
West Midlands: size of green sector
The Green Bridge competition is open to businesses in the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas of Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and The Marshes.
Applications deadline
The Government launched its £1.4 billion Regional Growth Fund (RGF) in 2010 in a effort to rebalance the economy towards the regions. It set up 24 LEPs to shift power to local communities and businesses and help allocate RGF funding.
“The LEP identified in its Strategy for Growth that it wished to drive the transition to a high value, low carbon economy, maximising the opportunity in new technologies and this fund will assist in that aim,” Graham Wynn, chairman of the Marches LEP, told ShropshireLive.com. “I urge supply chain companies across the Marches to apply for a slice of this £20 million, a fund which has been created thanks to the cross-LEP partnerships which have successfully developed across the Midlands.”
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Applicants can apply for between £20,000 and £100,000 to develop new markets, new products, skills development and purchase of capital equipment, according to Birmingham City Council, which is managing the grant scheme. In some cases, applications for funding of more than £100,000 will be considered where the applicant can demonstrate “significant economic benefits to the West Midlands both in terms of the level of investment and new job creation”.
West Midlands: size of green sector
The competition is being launched as new figures released by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills show that the West Midlands has the fifth largest low carbon and environmental goods and services (LCEGS) sector in terms of sales in the UK, accounting for over £10 billion – eight per cent of the total. Total UK LCEGS sales in 2011/12 grew to £128 billion, a 4.8 per cent growth on the previous year.
The Green Bridge competition is open to businesses in the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas of Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and The Marshes.
Applications deadline
The competition has already opened and applications must be submitted by August 9 2013. All projects will need to be completed by March 2015.
The Government launched its £1.4 billion Regional Growth Fund (RGF) in 2010 in a effort to rebalance the economy towards the regions. It set up 24 LEPs to shift power to local communities and businesses and help allocate RGF funding.
“The LEP identified in its Strategy for Growth that it wished to drive the transition to a high value, low carbon economy, maximising the opportunity in new technologies and this fund will assist in that aim,” Graham Wynn, chairman of the Marches LEP, told ShropshireLive.com. “I urge supply chain companies across the Marches to apply for a slice of this £20 million, a fund which has been created thanks to the cross-LEP partnerships which have successfully developed across the Midlands.”
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Green SMEs
Related links:
www.birmingham.gov.uk/greenbridge
