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As spending cuts start to take effect and costs rise it is a difficult time for businesses across the UK and beyond. While some streams of funding for business are either reduced or lost entirely many remain, amongst them a combined package of European Regional Development Fund and East of England Development Agency called the Low Carbon KEEP Programme.
Low Carbon KEEP, managed on behalf of the region by Anglia Ruskin University, offers funding to businesses with 249 employees or less, and which are based in the six counties of the East of England (Essex, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire) to engage in knowledge transfer activities with universities. Such a relationship will see academic expertise delivered into a business via a specifically recruited graduate, who will usually work as part of the company for the duration of the project. As the name suggests the emphasis of the programme is to help small to medium size enterprises (SME) to save carbon, either within their own businesses, within their supply chain or their customer base via a new product or service. Projects may involve product development, behavioural change or any number of activities themed around resource efficiency. Whilst environmental considerations are not always top of the list of priorities for a company to address in difficult times, such low carbon projects can help a business to reduce its spend on energy or waste disposal, put new products into the market or explore new sectors, all of which can positively effect the bottom line. Individual projects under the Low Carbon KEEP Programme will last between four and twelve months and whilst the company must be based in the East of England region the university partner can be situated anywhere within the UK.
If you are an SME who already has a relationship with a university and would like to explore a possible project please mention the programme title to your university contact and tell them you are interested in accessing the funding on offer. If you are an SME with a great idea, but you are not sure which university might be able to help you, please contact the programme management team (details below) to discuss.
For any enquiries relating to possible projects under the Low Carbon KEEP Programme please contact the management team on lowcarbon@anglia.ac.uk or call on 0845 196 4310
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