Aston Science Park - Funding Boost For Birminghams SMEs

Funding Boost For Birminghams SMEs

..AS LORD MAYOR PRESENTS £20,000 CHEQUE TO TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

29th April 2005

The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Michael Nangle, today endorsed his support for Birmingham-based Project Novus, an organisation that aims to help Midlands companies by facilitating and funding technology transfer.

Based on Aston Science Park, Project Novus is dedicated to helping businesses access and apply new technologies and is able to provide grants to help fund qualifying projects. Since its inception in April 2003 the organisation has assisted over 100 companies and as a direct result of its interventions, has helped safeguard and generate over 200 jobs and over £13 million of turnover.

Sally England Kerr, from England’s Specialist Safety Equipment, which has received support from Project Novus, said: “Without doubt, the assistance we have received has been invaluable. The constant support and professional advice provided by the Project Novus team is of great benefit and has helped us achieve many goals”.

In a presentation held at The Council House, Birmingham, the Lord Mayor spoke of the benefits of such an organisation and its importance to the city’s SME sector - then handed over a £20,000 cheque to one such company, Senselect Ltd. The funding will help develop innovative and highly secure access control systems using patented leading edge biometric technology that revolutionises the use of fingerprint technology, thus replacing traditional passwords and PINs.

“Working with Project Novus has been phenomenal. They not only helped in financial terms in the early stages but more importantly, they have orchestrated critical business expertise at a very important time in our development. We wouldn’t where we are today without them!” said John Topping of Senselect.

In his speech the Lord Mayor said: “It is important that manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises are able to access reliable advice and support and that employees within the Birmingham area are able to take advantage of successful publicly funded programmes such as Project Novus. I wish the Project every success.”

John Topping from Senselect Ltd receiving
a cheque for £20k from The Lord Mayor,
Councillor Michael Nangle

Dr Derek Harris, Chief Executive of Aston Science Park concluded: “With SMEs forming the backbone of Birmingham’s economy, I am delighted to see so many taking advantage of the support Project Novus has to offer. In securing £13 million of turnover since 2003, Project Novus has undoubtedly proved its worth.

With recent events at Rover, I see it of utmost importance that we strive to extend this project after 2006, providing continuity of a service for which we have seen a very real need.”

* To date, £250,000 of grant funding is still available to SMEs in the Central Technology Belt, which runs from Birmingham to Great Malvern. Further details are available by telephoning Project Novus on 0121 260 6444 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

For further information contact Melanie Stapleton, Project Co-ordinator. Tel: 0121 260 6444.

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Website: http://www.projectnovus.com/

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