Industry News
BIS: A partnership to create a new independent £2.9m enterprise research centre that will help drive Government policy for SMEs in the UK has been announced. The Enterprise Research Centre will help develop a greater understanding of the factors affecting business investment, performance & growth.
The call for proposals to form the centre closes on 4 September 2012. Applications are welcomed from academic institutions across the UK with relevant expertise. It is expected that the successful bidder will be announced in the autumn.
ScotGov: A multi-million pound fund to help develop Scotland’s first commercial wave & tidal power arrays has been opened. Addressing the AllEnergy conference in Aberdeen, First Minister Alex Salmond announced that Scotland’s Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) was now open for bids by marine energy developers.
He also announced:
* The first award from the £70m National Renewables Infrastructure Fund (N-RIF)
* A new Centre for CO2-Enhanced Oil Recovery in Scotland, to examine & develop opportunities for Carbon Capture & Storage technologies in Scotland
* An industry-led smart grid sector strategy
DECC: The latest North Sea licensing round for oil & gas drilling has broken all previous records for the number of applications received by the Government. A total of 224 applications have been submitted for the 27th Licensing Round covering 418 blocks of the UK Continental Shelf. It is the largest number since offshore licensing began in 1964 and is 37 more than the previous high total received in the last licensing round.
WAG: Viridis Plastics UK – a new start up company aims to establish one of the largest plastic recovery businesses in the UK following its acquisition of the assets of Blackwood based Plastics Sorting Ltd.
The Welsh Government is supporting the acquisition with repayable finance to ensure the assets & equipment of Plastics Sorting are retained in Wales as a basis for investment & job creation. The project involves the recycling/purification of waste materials to produce Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in flake format for use primarily in the packaging industry.
The Welsh Government is supporting the acquisition with repayable finance to ensure the assets & equipment of Plastics Sorting are retained in Wales as a basis for investment & job creation. The project involves the recycling/purification of waste materials to produce Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in flake format for use primarily in the packaging industry.
GPS: The Government Procurement Service is in the process of renewing the framework agreement for the supply of Temporary Nursing Staff. If you would be interested in participating as a stakeholder in shaping the next agreement please contact the GPS.
GPS: The Government Procurement Service will shortly be issuing a replacement framework agreement to supply temporary Allied Health Professionals & Health Science Staff. The framework will be predominantly for NHS bodies but will also be available to other public sector organisations throughout the UK. It will provide cover for all Agenda for Change bands and job sub-families
The current framework agreement will remain available to all NHS bodies and other customers across the UK public sector until 30 September 2012.
Press release & links
Press release & links
CO: The launch of a 2nd SME-friendly ‘G-Cloud framework’, giving more companies an opportunity to supply G-Cloud services through the CloudStore online catalogue, illustrates the progress in implementing the Government’s ICT Strategy, said Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude recently.
The creation of CloudStore – the online marketplace for cloud ICT services – an updated version of which was launched last week, was one of the key achievements of the first year of implementing the Government’s ICT Strategy, as a report published recently shows.
