WMG, at the University of Warwick, has launched a new “Project Associate” scheme as part of its Innovation Programme for small and medium sized businesses.

The scheme will offer 25 SMEs in the region £1000 each towards the cost of taking on a new person to work on a dedicated project over the summer, 2014.

The Innovation Programme operates out of the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation. Dr Mark Swift, Head of SME Programmes at WMG comments:

Many of the companies we are working with in the West Midlands are eager to progress with new product and service ideas, however haven’t necessarily got the time and skills to move forward. We have put aside some funds to support businesses to get access to the many talented individuals who work with WMG who can help them deliver specific product and service development projects.”

Award-winning brewer Hobsons Brewery, based in Shropshire, has collaborated with WMG at the University of Warwick to develop an innovative tracking system set to track their Beer Barrels by tapping on a smartphone.

Working with WMG’s dedicated small business team based at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation (IIPSI), University of Warwick, Hobsons were able to solve their specific problem of finding a simple way to track casks and their contents.

The SME team at WMG helped the company bring together the right RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) tags for the barrels, a smartphone app, and a cloud database system to do the asset tracking. This solution allows for communication between different handheld devices and the ability for Hobsons staff to simply monitor barrels while on the road.

WMG at the University of Warwick have helped Oldbury-based start-up company, CMK, win an award from leading mountain biking magazine Enduro for their novel bike mudguard product.

The company were awarded the prize based on the effectiveness of the mudguard which attaches to the bike’s seatstays rather than the seat post. The innovative Mudhugger concept was borne out of CMK Director Bruce and Jamie Gardiner’s passion for mountain biking. They turned to researchers and business support specialist in WMG’s SME team based at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation at University of Warwick to help give life to their design idea.

WMG were able to help prototype the design and gave tailored advice and recommendations on the potential manufacturing route and materials that the company could use. WMG also helped them with materials analysis and technology advice on how to bond different plastics.

The first stage involved making parts in a rubbery material using innovative additive manufacturing technology. After review from PBFA, the next stage involved creating two designs before the final approved design could be manufactured were created before the part was approved. This helped Barkley Plastics win an order from PBFA to manufacture them and subsequently sell in M&S stores.

WMG’s SME Team at the University Warwick are to reveal how they can help West Midlands SMEs solve low volume manufacture challenges, at a special free event on the 3rd December designed to help SMEs successfully take a product idea into low volume manufacture.

WMG researchers will show how they are working with injection moulding company Barkley Plastics Ltd to deliver low volume injection moulding solutions for several new products, including an innovative medical product, through the novel, cost effective use, of Additive Layer Manufacturing (3D Printing).

ALM technology has been used to print polymer inserts that are capable of producing more than 200 injection moulded parts. With a build time of only 4 hours and a cost per set in the low hundreds of pounds, it is a highly attractive manufacturing route for companies looking to bring new products to market.

WMG has launched a new initiative, the Business Innovation Group (BIG), which will act as a channel to focus WMG’s business engagement activity and support organisations who are looking to transform for success in the digital economy.

The Business Innovation Group will engage and work with a wide range of business partners, from start-ups and SMEs, through WMG’s SME Team within IIPSI, to large organisations and policymakers. BIG is led by WMG's Business Transformation research group, but will draw on its access to cutting-edge research and expertise across all of WMG’s research areas to support organisational and economic transformation. Specifically, BIG will help organisations to adapt their products, services and operations to respond to the connected digital economy as well as assist organisations to evolve and implement new business and economic models as technology continues to transform society.

Phones and tablet computers are to be part of a new highly personalised heating and energy economy system thanks to an idea by Midlands company JSJS Designs Ltd, WMG and the Estates Office at the University of Warwick which has just won £495,000 in support from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board.

JSJS Designs Ltd and WMG will use the funding to work with The University of Warwick’s Estates Office to retrofit an innovative wireless Heating Micro-management System (HMS) to the University’s Social Sciences building. The novel system hands control over to both the building management team and the building’s occupants who will individually be able to use their smart phones and tablet computers to control heating at a room-by-room level.

The project will allow JSJS Ltd to test this technology on a large complex building and help them scale up the application of a technology that in the past has only be available to much smaller and simpler domestic properties.

The WMG SME Team has hosted a summer networking event which was attended by over 70 regional businesses. They were joined by partner organisations including the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), Growth Accelerator, Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council at the showcase event that highlighted the exciting work being conducted with West Midlands SMEs over the last year.

Last year, through the delivery of the ERDF funded support programme at the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation, the WMG SME Team has helped create six new businesses and 75 new jobs in the West Midlands region.

On 20^th June, the Manufacturing Advisory Service and WMG are running a unique event introducing manufacturers to MAS’s New Product Development Gateway programme, as well as a range of innovative technology and tools available at WMG’s International Institute for Product and Service Innovation.

The event will help local manufacturing SMEs create products that will give them a competitive advantage.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and WMG have a long history of working together and are both part of the West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium that delivers MAS support across the region.

During the day, the following sessions will be held:

Low Volume Manufacturing

A practical session offering an introduction to Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology and how it is possible to develop prototypes and tooling through this technology.

Product Benefits

A session using a "Design with Intent" toolkit to look at what specific behaviours you can derive through clever product design and how you can better meet user requirements.

Social Media as an Intelligence Tool

How chatter and discussion on Twitter et al can help you determine what your competitors are doing and how you might use social media to create advocates and a community to ultimately sell your products.

An entrepreneur whose Eureka moment came at last year’s wet and windy Grand National has reinvented the umbrella with the help of WMG at the University of Warwick.

The Rainshader protects people from the elements while watching major sporting events - crucially it doesn’t blow inside out, poke passers-by in the eye or drip on neighbours’ shoulders in crowds.

Its cut-away front, based on the design of a motor cycle helmet, lets people see the action while allowing the umbrella to sit low over the head so it doesn’t block the view of those behind.

It is specifically designed for major sporting events and other big televised gatherings, and is fully customisable in order to offer firms a significant branding opportunity.