Hundreds of Staffordshire businesses celebrated innovation and success at an awards event staged by Staffordshire University to mark the end of three major projects with local companies.
Staffordshire Digital Innovation Partnerships (SDIPS), Staffordshire Advanced Manufacturing, Prototyping and Innovation Demonstrating (SAMPID) and Staffordshire Connected and Intelligent Mobility Innovation Accelerator (SCIMIA) engaged more than 130 companies, developed 45 new products and completed 100 student internships.
Under the projects – funded by the European regional development fund across just 20 UK University Enterprise Zones – companies could work with academics, students and graduates to develop new products, projects and services.
They were hailed by the university’s Executive Director of Business Engagement Marek Hornak as examples of how “working together in partnership and capitalising on the university’s expertise and talent of our students and graduates can be mutually beneficial for both businesses and the university”.
He said: ‘The collaborations are evidence of business growth through innovation, improved opportunity in our region and vital industry experience for our students and recent graduates.”
In a fascinating talk, keynote speaker Jeremy White, Senior innovation Editor at Wired magazine, spoke about innovation strategies and looked at opportunities for innovation around artificial intelligence.
Awards went to:
• SDIP: Time 4 Sport Limited for a mobile app developed to support children and young people’s weight issues, emotional and mental wellbeing.
• SAMPID: Dermal Technology Laboratory Limited for work in advanced materials, design and manufacture in pharma, personal care, agrochemical, biocide and industrial sectors.
• SCIMIA: V-Prep Visual Training for its VR Training simulator for airline pilots.
