About Us

The Knowledge to Innovate Programme is funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency and delivered through the strong partnership of WM Enterprise and C-Tech Innovation:

	The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) leads the economic development and regeneration of England's Northwest. As a business-led organisation, the NWDA provides a crucial link between the needs of business and Government policies. As such, a major responsibility for the Agency is to help create an environment in which businesses in the region can flourish through offering business support, encouraging new start-ups, matching skills provision to employer needs and bringing business investment into the region. The NWDA co-ordinates a broad range of activities to encourage the region to think and act innovatively. Initiatives are focused on achieving an internationally excellent knowledge base, providing a step change in the provision of tools, linkages and infrastructure in order to accelerate technology transfer and the birth of knowledge based companies. Innovation is a key enabler to global competitiveness. New products and the application of leading-edge technologies will help companies develop new markets, increase exports and improve their bottom line.

	WM Enterprise is a specialist economic development and management consultancy and a major provider of regional venture capital. The consultancy division, which has been operating for over 20 years, delivers business support and innovation programmes to help small and medium sized companies increase their profitability and compete successfully in the global economy. Other economic development and management consultancy activity delivered for a variety of public sector clients includes: programme management, project evaluations, strategy development, economic analysis and forecasting, feasibility studies, business planning and business surveys. Its venture capital activities include the management of the North West Equity Fund, which has supported a number of Northwest companies in commercialising innovations. It also manages three other funds including a further regional equity gap fund and an early stage technology fund investing in spin outs from universities.

	C-Tech Innovation is a leading Northwest based independent technology development and innovation management company with regional, national and international reach - and a forty year pedigree in product and service provision. Technology development services include contract and grant assisted research and development, process innovation and scale-up, new product and process development and prototyping. Innovation management activities include project and programme management, knowledge transfer, technical due diligence, intellectual property exploitation, technology transfer skills and training. Working across a range of industrial sectors, C-Tech has particular strengths in chemical processing, green chemistry and environmental technologies, bio-science, advanced materials and nanotechnology, medical devices, hydrogen, new energy and fuel cells, and thermal process engineering.