On 17th September the School of Chemistry hosted the inaugural East Midlands Chemistry Using Business Forum (EMCUBF). Our aim is to create a regional network between chemical using businesses and those in affiliated sectors, allowing members to share their knowledge and experience. A similar network already exists in north-west England (Chemicals North-West) and EMCUBF hopes to mirror its success. Whereas as the north-west contains much heavy industry, most of the chemical companies in the East Midlands are small and niche, although there are larger businesses such as Alliance Boots, Reckitt Benckiser and Fisher Scientific in the region. Meetings will aim to reflect the needs of the region’s businesses, including funding opportunities, training and advice on legal and IP related issues.
The forum is supported by all of the professional bodies in the sector- the RSC, SCI, IChemE, CIKTN and CIA and the University of Nottingham is fully committed to helping it grow. We believe that our position as a University gives us the longevity and strong regional presence to make EMCUBF a success. We are also keen to grow links with local business, building upon existing programmes such as the Chemical Innovation Laboratory, which gives SMEs free access to our facilities and expertise. At the same time, we want EMCUBF to be independent of the University and to grow in response to the needs of its members.
The first EMCUBF had over 20 attendees from local companies, plus staff from the University and other local networks. The meeting focused on opportunities to develop trade overseas. Brian Hicknott of UK Trade and Investment described the opportunities available through his organisation to help UK businesses export and attract foreign investment. The UK government is fully committed, seeing this as an opportunity for wealth creation in the UK economy and UKTI has the aim of assisting 50,000 SMEs by 2014/15, creating £56bn in extra sales. UKTI operates a number of schemes for companies, such as Passport to Export which assesses a company’s capability to trade overseas and provides training to build export capacity. More about UKTI’s offerings can be found on their website http://www.ukti.gov.uk/home.html, on their national and local LinkedIn groups and by following them on Twitter (@UKTI and @ukti_emids).
Brian’s talk was followed by Richard Weaver, who explained how UKTI had helped benefit his start-up contract research company, Xenogesis. Richard, an expert in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, formed Xenogesis after being made redundant when Astra Zeneca closed its facility at Charnwood, Leicestershire. By engaging UKTI early in his businesses life, he has been able to rapidly expand his client base overseas. Through UKTI the UK consulate in Barcelona organised a targeted client visit for his company and they have given Xenogesis support for overseas conferences and trips and training and advice on topics such as PR and marketing.
The meeting finished with a general discussion about what EMCUBF can offer in the future. Proposed topics for future meetings included HSE and REACH, lean manufacturing, innovation and funding streams, understanding the patent box and training in other areas of science. Those attending were keen that experience and knowledge should be shared through the forum and saw an opportunity to broaden member’s knowledge of the local chemical industry. We are also looking for a better name, suggestions so far including EMChem, ChEMBus and ChemterpriseEM! If you have an idea for a name, please let us know!
In order to keep discussions on going outside the meetings, we have created a LinkedIn group “East Midlands Chemistry Using Business Forum”. If you would like to know more about the forum, please contact us at chembusiness@nottingham.ac.uk.
Posted on Thursday 17th October 2013