WIREDGOV

The Mayor of London has launched an open invitation to tender for £3.1 million of funds that will support experimental public, private or voluntary sector projects that test innovative ideas for supporting London’s businesses to grow.

Alex Conway, Head of London’s European Programmes Management Unit, says:

“This initiative will help businesses across London , improve their performance, innovate and leverage value from London ’s world class knowledge base.”

The funding is made available by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which encourages collaboration across sectors and promotes more productive links between business and education to support entrepreneurial skills. It also provides support for London businesses to increase productivity and create jobs. Over 4,000 jobs are forecast to be created through the fund over the next five years.

The University of East London (UEL) secured funding from ERDF, following a previous bidding round. Ray Wilkinson, Acting Director of External and Strategic Development Services at UEL says, “The experimental project stream has allowed us to do what it says on the tin; ‘experiment’ – to find new ways of linking and making available the expertise of our University for the benefit of London’s SMEs.  We are particularly proud that we were one of the first institutions to make use of the ERDF Experimental Project stream.”

The University’s M-com project has developed a mobile commerce platform and toolkit for SMEs. Its second project, also funded through the scheme, Lightbulb Express, aims to identify and develop a new method of engaging and supporting sole trader and micro enterprises from the inventor community.

The projects have enabled the University to refine and test innovative business support ideas by engaging pilot groups as part of the user requirement, development and trialling process. While businesses within the pilot groups benefit from specialist support, the strategic focus is on developing innovative tools that can effectively support the wider SME and sole trader communities of London.

The ERDF bidding round for experimental projects aims to support the Mayor of London’s Economic Development Strategy and the Mayor’s vision to have the most competitive business environment in the world. Innovation and entrepreneurship are key to London ’s economic success.

For further information about the tender process