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The new initiative is part of Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ Research Information Technology Exchange (BRITE), and will support local businesses to discover innovation focused practices that can inform and support renewed growth as part of the economic recovery from the COVID pandemic, particularly those focused on planning to launch or scale up new products or services.

Inspiring Innovation is a 5-month programme beginning in May, where SMEs will team up with a dedicated business coach to deploy innovation processes to differentiate their products or services in the market, develop innovation action plans and identify strategic partnerships for growth.

The University of Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ BRITE team

Academics leading the new BRITE initiative from the Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ Business School (BBS) – ranked in the UK's top five for the impact of its research in business innovation and management – include Dr George Tsekouras, Principal Research Fellow at BBS, and Director of the university’s Centre for Change, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management (CENTRIM), as well as Dr Aline Figlioli, Research Fellow and member of CENTRIM. CENTRIM’s focus with partners in industry, academia and government is to produce groundbreaking concepts to explain, harness and improve innovation, entrepreneurship and change management.

Funding from the European Regional Development Fund means this new BRITE programme will be completely free for SMEs who are members of the Plus X Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ Innovation Hub. Membership includes a 'hot desk' option providing access to all support programmes, as well as prototyping workshops, podcasting studios, drop-in clinics with experts, and networking events.

Noel Sesto, Director of Control Freq Ltd, has taken part in similar BRITE projects, and said: "The university's INSPIRE programme has helped enormously in our transition, pivoting from a web-based company, to a solutions focused company. We were able to apply the methodology learned in our workshops, and with the support of our INSPIRE Coach, create an open innovation Action Plan. It has made the previously intangible possible - a focused growth plan to help realise our ambitions.”

To find out more about BRITE, contact Judith Badger, Head of Programme at enterprise@brighton.ac.uk.

Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ Research Innovation Technology Exchange (BRITE) is a £10 million, three-year collaborative project, led by Plus X Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ with the University of Ó³¿ÍÖ±²¥ as delivery partner. It has received up to £5.5 million funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government  (in London, the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for the European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit .