Nicola is a Technology Manager at the Midlands Aerospace Alliance and is currently helping to deliver one of the last ERDF funding streams in partnership with the University of Nottingham called “Aerospace UP”. The programme provides matched funding grants for innovation as well as free technical support packages on a variety of subjects.
The Aerospace UP programme grants can provide support to SMEs in the Midlands who wish to innovate either products, services or processes in the Aerospace sector – this can cover anything from the traditional Civil Aerospace and Aviation Infrastructure supply chains, but also emerging markets in Advanced Air Mobility, Space and Zero Emissions Technologies.
We pride ourselves on a programme that is low in admin overhead for SMEs, with simple forms and plenty of support from us to prepare (we know how little time SMEs have for admin) and we have a fast-track grant application process – when needed we have brought projects from Expression of Interest to Full Grant Approval in 2 weeks! The first step is enrolment – which is essentially an eligibility check – and gives SMEs access immediately to our free events and support.
We still have some money left in the pot in a number of Midlands LEPs which needs to be spent by June 2023, so we are reaching out now to SMEs in other sectors whose technologies could be applied to Aerospace – equally we can support Aerospace Supply Chain SMEs who wish to diversify out of Aerospace.