What is SMART Innovation?
SMART Innovation is a programme delivered by experts in the form of engineers, scientists, industrialists and intellectual property specialists – all working with one goal in mind – and that’s to help Welsh businesses prosper.
They aren’t superheroes in capes (some may wear white coats), but they do come with thousands of hours of industry experience between them which means they know a thing or two about helping businesses innovate to get ahead. Increasingly, they are also focusing their efforts on supporting businesses with a drive towards decarbonisation too as part of Welsh Government’s commitment to a greener working world.
In a nutshell, our team is about three things:
- Expertise – we work here on the ground in Wales but have access to a UK wide network of specialists.
- Money – let’s not beat around the bush, money can be key so we can help you access financial help.
- Support – manufacturing and design consultancy from an approved framework of private sector advisors.
And it’s these three things that are central to our success and yours because if we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that no business is an island. By linking with and learning from others, you unearth opportunities, kickstart processes and accelerate growth.
So let’s begin…
Meet the SMART Innovation Specialists
Ann holds significant experience in technical and project management of new products from conception to commercialisation, as well as scoping and facilitating tri-partite technical projects between the Welsh Government, academia and businesses.
Ann supports businesses to connect with Welsh, UK and EU technology networks, identify appropriate funding and collaboration opportunities.
And, as a qualified Intellectual Property advisor, raises awareness of business intellectual property, state aid and R&D tax relief considerations.
Areas of interest:
- Polymer and materials chemistry including physical testing, formulation plus design for manufacturing
- Photochemistry encompassing catalysis, photovoltaics and photo-degradation
Jeff is a qualified Intellectual Property advisor, as applied to R&D, and specialises in the promotion of technology within the UK aerospace sector supply chain.
His early career saw him working in the automotive and aerospace industries, concentrating on electromechanical design, production engineering, automatic and semi-automatic assembly line design and bespoke aerospace component design.
Jeff has also gained significant experience in plastic component/product design and in lean and just in time manufacturing.
Areas of interest:
- Rapid prototyping techniques and time compression
- Cell and process management
- Operational management
- Aerospace technologies – materials, component and whole aircraft design
Chris has specialist expertise in engineering manufacturing systems to ensure optimal productivity from a factory and its staff. He is also experienced in managing product life-cycles from concept to launch to end-of-life, user-centric design and design for manufacture optimisation.
Areas of interest:
- Circular economy
- Clean technology
- Product and service design
- Industry 4.0
- STEM in education
“The new automated process that we have has enabled us to digitise our patterns, and that has actually led to a 12% increase in efficiencies in the manufacturing process.”
Ruth Lee, Corwen
Hundreds of businesses are already benefitting from SMART Innovation’s support. Find out more about how SMART Innovation can help your business to prosper here.