The University

Coventry University has successfully assembled £1m of investment which it will be using to help businesses within the region to overcome the effects of the recession.

The Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF) will enable businesses to access specialist expertise and services from the University. The key aim is to provide direct support to individuals and businesses by tackling skills, employment and a range of business issues raised by the current economic crisis.

Derek Griffiths, programme director for ECIF said:

"As a business-facing university we are committed to supporting companies in the economic downturn. This new fund means we can make our expertise and facilities available to even more of the companies that are being affected."

The support will be delivered in a number of ways including training courses, mentoring, specialist consultancy and product development initiatives. There are five different packages of support on offer, three of which are targeted specifically at the automotive, creative industries and ICT sectors. The fund includes a voucher scheme that can pay up to £3,000 towards the cost of a range of specialist Coventry University services.

The University has already received a number of applications for support, since the scheme started in June. It will run until September 2010, however, interest is already gathering pace so don't miss out - make contact now to see what help might be available to you.

A launch event is planned for 27th August where you can find out much more about the scheme and meet with representatives from the University that are responsible for delivering it. For further details, please contact Carley Rimmer on c.rimmer@coventry.ac.uk

The scheme is partly funded by The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) as part of its Employer Engagement Programme.

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For further information please contact Meghan Tiplady, Communications Assistant at Coventry University, on 024 7688 7076