IDEAS - Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship and Science

The aim of IDEAS is to help enhance the performance of businesses based at DSIC, and other regional science and technology parks, by putting new ideas into practice. This is being persued through both research and knowledge exchange activity centred on innovation, creativity, competitive performance and economic development. The IDEAS partnership was established to help foster greater open collaboration and networking between universities and regional businesses and to develop innovation practices that bring internationally-leading research to bear in real time on innovation issues faced by science and technology based businesses.

IDEAS at Daresbury is one of the first initiatives created and delivered through the collaboration and has supported over 50 SMEs based in DSIC. Each of the businesses has benefited from an individual innovation review complemented by a mapping exercise, utilising innovative visualisation techniques, to enable them to identify barriers to and opportunities for growth. This was then followed by a programme of in-depth support, tailored to each business' needs, providing creative approaches to driving innovation within their business. Alongside this a number of 'ImaginationLabs' and workshops have been delivered, bringing the businesses together with one another and academics in order to stimulate further collaboration and networking. As well as assisting the growth aspirations of the SMEs, the initiative has enabled the development of new knowledge exchange mechanisms and research opportunities.

IDEAS at Daresbury is supported through funding from the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)