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Just as NESTA Creative Credits get in to full swing, along comes another freebie for Greater manchester businsses.

Innovation Vouchers are a kind of reverse of Nesta Creative credits; designed to help Northwest businesses owners, entrepreneurs and social enterprises to purchase a knowledge provider’s expertise to develop innovation and enhance business

The scheme provides voucher of £3,000 and £7,000 to growing businesses and social enterprises and was set up to encourage and make it easier for more people to engage with the knowledge base; in particular universities and further education colleges.

The key benefits are:

• Access the wealth of knowledge from our knowldge base, including public and private sector research and technology organisations
• Resolve a business issue, quickly, efficiently and through a source not previously utilised
• Easy to apply and ‘spend’ the voucher
• The scheme is funded by the NWDA and ERDF, so is a credible and stable way to fund your organisation’s growth.
• A voucher up to the value of £3,000 voucher is a 100% grant from NWDA. Businesses must pay VAT at the current rate when the work is completed by their knowledge provider.
• A voucher up to the value of £7,000 is a 70% grant from NWDA and businesses must contribute 30% of cash to make the total value of the voucher up to £10,000. Businesses must also pay VAT on the total cost of the project.

A larger voucher of £7,000, to be matched with £3,000 from the applying business, has been available since August 2009. This voucher is for businesses that need a bigger piece of work undertaken by the Knowledge Providers, and where the piece of work would not be eligible for other NWDA grants.

Due to continuing demand from businesses only one application per company will be accepted. Applicants will be allowed to apply for a £3,000 and £7,000 in any one round provided the focus of each knowledge question is completely different.

Discover how Innovation Voucher recipients have used theirs.

Applications for Innovation Vouchers will be accepted during a series of Rounds:

• 5 April 2010 – 30 April 2010
• • 200 x £3,000 vouchers
  • 50 x £7,000 vouchers
• 2 August 2010 – 27 August 2010

Over 170 companies have benefited from the NESTA creative credits scheme around the North West. Now NESTA are accepting a second round of applications from the 1st of Feb. more information can be found on http://www.creative-credits.org.uk/

The aim of the NESTA credits is to both help local industries to innovate with the help of Manchester Creative agencies. All that is required is for the company awarded the £4k NESTA grant to stump up £1k of their own and the NESTA will top it up with £4k.. Now that is an amazing deal and a very generous grant.

However, the grant scheme operates like a lottery, and like the Lotto, you have to be in it to win it. So get your applications in ASAP and team up with a good design studio, preferably one that has delivered NESTA projects already, as they will be familiar with the process and will be able to help you get the most out of the opportunity to develop your business.

Check out Sizzle Media web design Bury as one of our fav’s.

The UK’s innovation body NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), will be piloting a world-first programme in Greater Manchester offering small businesses creative support to help them to become more profitable.

‘Creative Credits’ will award SMEs £4,000 worth of external creative input for their own £1,000 investment, helping to develop ideas that can transform their company’s prospects. NESTA recently highlighted the creative industries as one of the UK’s most important growth sectors. It estimates that the creative industries will contribute £85bn to GDP and employ almost 1.3 million people by 2013.

Successful applicants will be able to spend the Credits with a creative business of their choice, as long as the latter are registered on NESTA’s online Gallery and their project meets the programme criteria.

NESTA believes that the creative industries can improve the performance of other businesses for example in the development of new products and services and in devising platforms to help businesses reach new audiences, but many businesses are unaware of these benefits. NESTA’s research has found that UK businesses that invest double the amount the average firm spends on creative services are 25% more likely to introduce product innovations.

NESTA’s Chief Executive, Jonathan Kestenbaum says: “UK firms under-invest in important creative services, such as design, compared to other EU businesses. We have the largest creative sector in the world relative to GDP and as we emerge from a difficult economic climate we want to show that the creative industries can be of even more value to our economy. This programme aims to put businesses on a path to growth”.

NESTA is partnering with NESTA Creative Partner, Manchester City Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in investing £600,000 in the pilot. It will award 150 companies with Creative Credits in two waves – the first 75 will be picked in October, and the second next February.

Hasan Bakhshi, Director for Creative Industries in NESTA’s Policy & Research Unit says: “This is a groundbreaking programme which will have a multiplier effect in terms of stimulating Manchester’s economy – both for the benefit of SMEs and creative businesses. As Greater Manchester is one of the UK’s leading creative industry hubs, we felt it was an obvious choice for the pilot. We will be tracking the development of all the businesses taking part so that we can measure conclusively the additional impact this has on stimulating innovation and growth”.

For further information, please go to: NESTA creative credits