50 of the county's brightest and most innovative small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have just been identified as part of a three year business project.
The Essex Innovation Programme (EIP) and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have recently completed their selection process for the joint project, Innovation 50, which has indicated important characteristics and strategies of the 50 SMEs in Essex showing growth potential.
“This initiative has shown that Essex is true a hotbed for innovation and entrepreneurship with a huge range of businesses, all of them ripe for development and poised for growth.
The sheer number of applications we received, and the range of businesses applying, shows that it is truer than ever that Essex means business. We are committed to supporting our businesses and help them grow and prosper.”
Cllr Kevin Bentley, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth and Partnerships, Essex County Council
Innovation 50 SMEs
The 50 SMEs in Essex that demonstrated fast growth, or growth potential, and innovation that have been chosen as one of the Innovation 50 include…
- Acketts Group Ltd
- Advante
- Atlas Computer Systems
- Birkett Long LLP
- Blackman and White Ltd
- Brynleigh Technology Ltd
- Camfaud Concrete Pumps Ltd
- Carbon Numbers
- City & Country
- Colchester Zoo
- Corporate Battlefields Ltd
- Coryton Advanced Fuels
- CWind
- Dementia Adventure
- Df2020 Ltd
- Disarmco
- Dura Composites Ltd
- eMoov
- Estuary Logistics
- EuroGroup Ltd
- Excalibur Screwbolts Ltd
- George Thompson Ltd
- Glasswall Solutions Limited
- Green Air Cars
- ITA-Instruments Ltd.
- IX Cameras
- Kite Power Solutions Ltd
- M G Electric (Colchester) Ltd
- Monkey Tower
- Poulten Selfe and Lee Limited
- Printech Circuit Labs
- SeeClear
- Shark Infested Custard Ltd
- Skilful.co
- SKN-RG Performance Skincare
- Soteria - Smart Safety Solutions Ltd
- Synthetix Ltd
- Technevate Ltd
- Tevva Motors
- The Accumulator
- The Cheeky Panda
- The English Cream Tea Company
- The Lampshade Company
- The Point.1888
- Ultimotive
- Vertical Systems
- WCM
- WeAreTheCity
- Windsor Integrated Services Group
- Wishbone Publishing Ltd
The Innovation 50 companies will receive support and guidance from the Essex Innovation Programme, academic expertise from Anglia Ruskin University, publicity coverage and an Innovation 50 kitemark.
Using innovation to achieve success
Businesses from a wide cross section of industries and sectors applied to Innovation 50 including one of the country’s last remaining privately owned zoos, video games developers, construction companies and high-tech manufacturers amongst numerous others. The Innovation 50 SMEs were chosen by examining the reasons behind a company’s growth and identifying where additional support could enable them to grow even faster.
“Needless to say we are thrilled and honoured to have been selected and we look forward to working with you to promote this and Essex as a place of innovation in business.”
Lee Andrews, Managing Director, CWind
“Colchester Zoo continues to work hard to evolve year on year for the benefit of both our animals and visitors. We are extremely pleased that Colchester Zoo has been recognised as one of the top 50 innovative businesses in Essex.”
Melissa Fitch, Marketing Manager, Colchester Zoo
Gaining knowledge to encourage innovation and growth
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Innovation 50 is enabling the Essex Innovation Programme to learn how companies have used innovation to achieve success and the project has already provided useful data. Research work, which has already shown that 85% of applicants see their future as positive and feel that they benefit from being Essex-based, will continue and a full report of the analysis and recommendations will be produced for 2018. This will be used to develop a blueprint of a successful business with innovation at its core.
"The support and enthusiasm for the programme that has been shown by small and medium sized enterprises has been outstanding. We have collected a vast amount of data already and our survey work continues. From this important piece of research, I hope we can build on the successes and strengthen the support available for our business community to grow further."
Dr. Rob Willis, Reader in International Business, the Lord Ashcroft International Business School, ARU
How a university and business collaborate
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The interest shown in Innovation 50 from the county’s applicants is a great example of how the talents and resources of the Essex Innovation Programme (EIP) and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) can be harnessed for the greater good of the business community. The partnership between EIP and ARU has been set up to encourage the sharing of expertise and good practice to support economic growth in the region. It is envisaged the methodologies and conceptual frameworks will be developed as valuable models for future initiatives and for determining future strategy.
“It has been a true pleasure to have contact with so many Essex SMEs from all sectors and learn about their fantastic contributions to innovation. These have ranged from state-of-the-art technologies to creative ways of dealing with their customers. Innovation 50 has shown how Essex is a very exciting place to do business.”
Andrew Hayman, Innovation 50 Research Lead, ARU
About the Essex Innovation Programme
The Essex Innovation Programme (EIP) already works with many companies providing expertise and professional mentoring to help companies to grow. Innovation 50 will build on this success encouraging the county’s SMEs to develop further.
Read here for more information on the Essex Innovation Programme.
See here for more information on Innovation 50.
