Graduate School
£3.3m boost to local economy
Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:57:00 GMT
University partnerships have been awarded £3.3 million for projects in the city as part of the government’s Regional Growth Fund initiative announced this week.
The Cell Block project, will revitalise the dilapidated Victory Gate Cell Block in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard and turn it into a business centre for creative industries companies. The University will use the premises to provide training, mentoring and support for over 300 creative businesses a year and will attract match funding from businesses including Xytratex and Parity Trust.
The successful bid was led by Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and will act as a focal point for the creative industries and community outreach in one of the most deprived areas in England, helping to create over 100 new private sector jobs.
A second project worth £2.1 million was awarded to an initiative led by the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership and The News to be launched in early 2012. Together the partners will run a competitive programme to award grants to support small to medium sized companies and start-up businesses within Portsmouth, Havant and Gosport. The University will provide applicants with support, training, mentoring and supply market intelligence and technology or scientific validation of ideas to applicants.
Mark Baker, Head of the University’s Department of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services, said: “These projects will not only help our city to create new private sector jobs, they will enable our staff and students to play an important role in that job creation.
“Both projects utilise the university’s expertise in supporting enterprise and many of the university’s students start-up their own companies when they graduate. With this funding the university will be able to use its expertise to help new and existing businesses create jobs for the future and help companies bounce back following the recent cuts in defence spending.”