Solutions for Business
Last Thursday ~ 23rd October the government launched 'Solutions for Business - funded by government', a national package of publicly funded business support products.
At this time of global economic turmoil you would expect the press to be keen to signpost the support companies can get.
However I guess the press is to keen to be gloom mongers rather that see a brighter future ahead.
The products will be accessed via Business Link.
All the 'Solutions for Business' products will be in place by March 09 and are a result of a streamlining exercise whereby the government committed to reduce over 3,000 products to less than 100. Monitoring will ensure the number of schemes stays low.
The aim is to make it easier for companies, small and large, new and existing, to find the right products to help them with common business issues such as getting started, growing, finance, export, skills, innovation and the environment.
Businesses had complained they found government support complex and confusing. 'Solutions for Business' responds to their concerns and the business community has been involved in developing the package.
It is estimated tighter targeting of schemes will collectively add up to £1.4bn per year of value for businesses whilst having clearly identifiable products will save them up to £1.4m in saved search costs.
Economic, social and environmental goals will be met where the Government needs to intervene.
. 'Solutions for Business' products are:
1. Export Credit Insurance
2. Grant for Business Investment
3. Maximising Foreign Direct Investment
4. Accessing International Markets
5. Developing Your International Trade Potential
6. Train to Gain
7. Business Collaboration Networks
8. Business Premises
9. Business Growth: Specialist Facilities and Environments
10. Starting a High Growth Business
11. Intensive Start-Up Support
12. Starting a Business
13. Manufacturing Advisory Service
14. Designing Demand
15. Innovation Advice and Guidance
16. Coaching for High Growth
17. Support to Lenders
18. Small Loans for Business
19. Understanding Finance for Business
20. Finance for Business
21. Enterprise Coaching
22. Improving Your Resource Efficiency
23. Environmental Land Management Funding
24. Environmental Land Management Advice
25. Collaborative R&D
26. Networking for Innovation
27. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
28. Innovation Vouchers
29. Low Carbon Energy Demonstration
30. Grant for Research and Development
Products will migrate to 'Solutions for Business' on a rolling basis between now and March 09. Five products join the portfolio from 23rd October: Grant for Business Investment, Maximising Foreign Direct Investment, Accessing International Markets, Developing Your International Trade Potential and Train to Gain.
Businesses looking for support can contact Business Link by phone (0845 600 9006), online (http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/solutions) or face-to-face by contacting their local provider.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Logistics Institute
Last week I went to the Logistics Institute in Hull which was great (and i've just realised is the number one link in Google if you search for 'Logistics Institute' so good for them! :-) :
http://www.hull.ac.uk/logistics/index.html
I watched a few presentations from some of their incubator tenants and then had a tour round the building. It's a fantastic looking building before you go inside, nice big glass front and so on. But it also has a really good feel to it and some truly excellent training / event facilities that i'm going to try and find an excuse to use at some point in the future!
They also have a technology showcase area where you can see the technologies being developed by some of their tenants as well as other organisations. I love this kind of thing as it's so much easier than reading about something in a dry, boring document. They had some really nice equipment on display including 2D print examples, RFID tags and a new mobile application which is a bit like Skype but allows you to call several PC's / mobiles at once.
I think what is particularly good about the Logistics Institute is that it is literally (physically) attached to the University of Hull and has business tenants so it really is combining both worlds and I have a feeling that the physical proximity of business and academia will be a real benefit for them.
As an example of this, their membership is for both business and students and both types of members can access their resource centre and use the other facilities (which include meeting rooms as well as state-of-the-art laboratories).
This is definitely another one I shall be keeping an eye on and am sure i'll have more to report back in the future.
http://www.hull.ac.uk/logistics/index.html
I watched a few presentations from some of their incubator tenants and then had a tour round the building. It's a fantastic looking building before you go inside, nice big glass front and so on. But it also has a really good feel to it and some truly excellent training / event facilities that i'm going to try and find an excuse to use at some point in the future!
They also have a technology showcase area where you can see the technologies being developed by some of their tenants as well as other organisations. I love this kind of thing as it's so much easier than reading about something in a dry, boring document. They had some really nice equipment on display including 2D print examples, RFID tags and a new mobile application which is a bit like Skype but allows you to call several PC's / mobiles at once.
I think what is particularly good about the Logistics Institute is that it is literally (physically) attached to the University of Hull and has business tenants so it really is combining both worlds and I have a feeling that the physical proximity of business and academia will be a real benefit for them.
As an example of this, their membership is for both business and students and both types of members can access their resource centre and use the other facilities (which include meeting rooms as well as state-of-the-art laboratories).
This is definitely another one I shall be keeping an eye on and am sure i'll have more to report back in the future.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Cloud Computing
I just watched a webinar called 'Powering Your Business with Cloud Computing' hosted by the Grid Computing Now! KTN.
It was a really interesting seminar about an organisation called Rozmic and how it uses Cloud Computing for a new service it's released. There were also some interesting questions at the end, the main issues people had with using Cloud Computing seem to be interoperability between different providers, security concerns (which are pretty much overcome by keeping the really sensitive data inhouse) and pricing (the fact that you can't easily predict how much you will use and therefore how much it will cost which is difficult for less flexible large organisations, and that it's all new so pricing can still vary quite a lot).
However, the potential financial advantages seem to be huge, especially for small business and start ups. Ross Cooney at Rozmic made the good point that with Cloud Computing you can take your time over purchasing hardware as you're not in the usual desperate situation of having to get new servers tomorrow, instead you can use cloud computing in the interim while negotiating a good deal for equipment. And of course you can have less equipment inhouse and take advantage of cloud computing for some of your needs.
Ross also suggested an 8 hour rule whereby any server that will be in use for more than 8 hours a day is cheaper to have inhouse, anything in use less than 8 hours a day is cheaper using cloud computing. He stressed this wasn't rigorously tested but I think it's a good rule of thumb for a small business trying to work out what to do.
Anyway you can watch the seminar online at the Grid Computing Now! website:
http://www.gridcomputingnow.org/
As far as I can tell you have to register in order to watch the seminars but it's free and then you can also see what other webinars they have coming up.
It was a really interesting seminar about an organisation called Rozmic and how it uses Cloud Computing for a new service it's released. There were also some interesting questions at the end, the main issues people had with using Cloud Computing seem to be interoperability between different providers, security concerns (which are pretty much overcome by keeping the really sensitive data inhouse) and pricing (the fact that you can't easily predict how much you will use and therefore how much it will cost which is difficult for less flexible large organisations, and that it's all new so pricing can still vary quite a lot).
However, the potential financial advantages seem to be huge, especially for small business and start ups. Ross Cooney at Rozmic made the good point that with Cloud Computing you can take your time over purchasing hardware as you're not in the usual desperate situation of having to get new servers tomorrow, instead you can use cloud computing in the interim while negotiating a good deal for equipment. And of course you can have less equipment inhouse and take advantage of cloud computing for some of your needs.
Ross also suggested an 8 hour rule whereby any server that will be in use for more than 8 hours a day is cheaper to have inhouse, anything in use less than 8 hours a day is cheaper using cloud computing. He stressed this wasn't rigorously tested but I think it's a good rule of thumb for a small business trying to work out what to do.
Anyway you can watch the seminar online at the Grid Computing Now! website:
http://www.gridcomputingnow.org/
As far as I can tell you have to register in order to watch the seminars but it's free and then you can also see what other webinars they have coming up.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Green Computing
Having been on holiday for nearly three weeks i'm still mainly catching up on emails etc. But just wanted to quickly blog about a conference on the 17th October at Leeds Metropolitan University called 'Green Computing Conference':
http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/inn/news_green_conf08.htm
Hopefully i'll be attendng and will post a blog with any interesting links / docs etc collected on the day...
After all surely Green Computing is going to be one of the biggest things to affect the IT industry over the next few years, what with the combination of continuing scarcity of energy sources and political will to decrease carbon footprints? Should make for an interesting day.
http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/inn/news_green_conf08.htm
Hopefully i'll be attendng and will post a blog with any interesting links / docs etc collected on the day...
After all surely Green Computing is going to be one of the biggest things to affect the IT industry over the next few years, what with the combination of continuing scarcity of energy sources and political will to decrease carbon footprints? Should make for an interesting day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
