Edge Hill’s business experts have been shortlisted in the 2022 European Triple E Awards in recognition of their impactful work supporting businesses to scale-up.
The Small and Medium Enterprise Productivity and Innovation Centre (SME PIC) runs hugely successful initiatives to support businesses in Lancashire and beyond, having helped 322 SMEs in just the last 12 months.
Their work has been recognised with a nomination for best ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support of the Year’ in the awards, which provide global recognition of efforts towards the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education.
The Centre was launched in 2017 as a new strategic gateway and ‘Centre of Excellence’ to scale-up potential SMEs, enhancing their knowledge, skills, and resources to boost products, services or assist with business model innovation.
Professor Simon Bolton, Director of the SME PIC, said: “Everyone is pleased to be shortlisted for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support of the Year Award. We’re all proud of the work we’ve done supporting SMEs from across the region resulting in business growth and job creation and delighted to have our work recognised in this way.”
“It’s a testament to the hard work of our team who have helped over 200 businesses across Lancashire and more recently Liverpool City Region to profitably grow. I’d also like to thank those businesses who’ve taken part in the programme for their enthusiasm in working with us to innovate and achieve their growth potential.”
The news follows hot on the heels of an Educate North award for this work in April.
The Centre’s key initiative is the Innovation Sprint Programme (IS). The programme, delivered by Edge Hill’s business experts, has helped SMEs in Lancashire to develop a growth strategy to improve their processes, maximise the use of business technologies, and re-define internal structures, roles, and responsibilities.
More than 88% of those participating SMEs over the last 12 months agreed it had supported them to develop a new product, service, or process.
SME PIC, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, has also supported Edge Hill’s business graduates who have secured highly skilled jobs because of the hands-on experience they have gained by supporting the Centre’s initiatives and research.
The awards ceremony will be held at the ACEEU Forum in Florence, Italy on the 28 June 2022. For more information visit the Triple E Awards website.
June 1, 2022
