It was announced today, at the Festival of Innovation, that Health Tech, the programme which helps West Midlands SMEs to innovate new medical & healthcare products and diversify into the healthcare sector, has received a £1.5m injection to expand and extend its work through to the end of 2008.

The Health Tech programme is run by WMG at the University of Warwick and is supported by a European Regional Development Fund grant through the Government Office for the West Midlands to enable it to provide 5 days of free assistance to its client SMEs in geographic areas of greatest need for development.

WMG is bringing together small businesses in the Midlands with partners in India to boost investment into the region.

It has just signed an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of India (“EXIM INDIA”)  that promises to bring new opportunities and inward investment to Midlands’ Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). 

With the help of Advantage West Midlands funding, dedicated measurement facilities and expertise are being offered to overcome the problem of large capital investment traditionally required to purchase precision measurement equipment. 

The Premium Automotive Research and Development (PARD) programme, in collaboration with Renishaw plc, a UK manufacturer of specialist measurement equipment, and LK, manufacturers of CNC co-ordinate measuring machines, are able to offer SMEs an alternative to outright equipment purchase.