Faculty of Science and Technology

Financing Your Ideas

Finance for new projects or collaborations can be difficult, especially in the current economic climate. Speakers from three different organisations will talk about different types of funding and finance available and how to access them.

Carbon Trust Investments Ltd is one of the UK's leading co-investors in clean technology focusing on reducing carbon emissions as well as earning financial return. CT Investments specialises in identifying and investing in early stage technologies and has in-house financial, technical, market and policy expertise. It invests its own funds, leveraged with other private funding, into the UK's clean energy technology industry. Investments are up to 50% per transaction with a typical value of between £250k - £3m.

The North West Fund for Energy & Environmental provides a flexible equity package for growth oriented businesses operating within the Energy & Environmental sector. The scheme provides funding from £200,000 to £1.2million to businesses seeking finance from £400,000 to £5million. The investment will be used to support a broad range of needs from start-up and early stage development to expansion plans for trading businesses. The investment will be a combination of equity, quasi-equity or mezzanine capital and loan support to best suit the needs of the company. CT Investment Partners manage the North West Fund for Energy & Environmental.

Many areas of Lancaster University (including Lancaster Environment Centre's Enterprise and Business Partnerships) are funded by local, regional and European governments to work with companies and offer support to local businesses. Although none of the projects offer funding directly to businesses the services on offer are free and save the need for paid consultancy. In other instances these services help develop a case to successfully gain funding from financing bodies.

Innovation Bridge Consulting help organisations access UK and European R&D funding by working with clients to identify appropriate sources aligned to their research priorities. They then assemble the best possible consortia and support bidding teams to maximise the return on investment.

Speaker Information

Adam Workman - Carbon Trust Investments & North West Fund for Energy & Environmental

Becky Gordon - Lancaster Environment Centre, Enterprise and Business Partnerships

Chris Pickering and Neil Adams - Innovation Bridge Consulting

Associated Links

• LEC Business Breakfast Club - Register online