THE Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus near Warrington has announced the launch of a new ground-breaking relationship with technology giant, IBM, which will see the two organisations working together to drive business growth for SME’s.
The initiative will help to develop new business and innovation relationships between companies at the Cheshire-based Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus, and IBM and its wider partner companies.
The collaboration will involve IBM working closely with SME’s at the Daresbury campus. IBM has a strong focus on the SME sector and develops highly flexible and bespoke relationships with individual SME’s, and with the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus as a whole. The new initiative will support Campus companies with access to IBM experts and mentoring to identify where they can use technology to develop their businesses and drive growth.
Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus will take on formal Enterprise Zone status in April and is already home to over 100 high-tech SMEs, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Cockcroft Institute, a collaboration between scientists from STFC and the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster and Liverpool
Professor Colin Whitehouse, chair of the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus initiative, said: “This new relationship goes to the very heart of the multi-partner open innovation model that the Campus has been founded upon. It will help to commercialise exciting technologies from SMEs, and will deliver significant commercial benefits to both IBM and the other DSIC companies. We are looking forward to putting all of our energies behind this important initiative with IBM in order to ensure that this new model of collaboration becomes an even stronger and yet more successful driving force for economic growth.
Simon Porter, Vice President for IBM Business Partners and Midmarket for Europe, said: “Innovation is at the heart of IBM and of small and medium enterprises globally. Responding to customer needs and developing solutions to meet them is one of the key reasons innovation centres exist. IBM is teaming with Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus to help these businesses grow, bringing our sales, marketing and technology experience to the relationship. “
Through the Smarter Planet initiative, IBM works with companies across all areas of technology, in particular those with cloud based solutions and novel solutions in smarter energy, smarter healthcare and smarter cities.
Picture shows (L-R) Daresbury Campus Business Development Manager, John Leake, Paul Fusi, Midmarket Development Manager, IBM UK & Ireland, Simon Porter, Leader for Midmarket and Business Partners for IBM Europe and Professor Colin Whitehouse, Chair of the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus initiative.
