Commemorating the end of the part funded European Regional Development funded project, the Energy Innovation Showcase invited representatives from Industry Associations and supported Local Enterprise Partnership to join the businesses who had gained support through the ATETA project.
ATETA has been a tremendous project. Over the past six-years we have worked with SMEs across five Local Enterprise Partnerships areas, giving them access to our expertise and facilities at the University of Birmingham. We believe we have made a real impact in helping these businesses test ideas, solve innovation challenges, create new business opportunities and identify opportunities for clean energy innovation.
Professor Martin Freer, Director of the Birmingham Energy Institute - University of Birmingham
Throughout the Showcase the team highlighted the impact ATETA has had on the businesses supported and the local enterprise areas they are based in. Presenters included Henriette Lyttle-Breukelaar, CEO of the Greater Birmingham Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBS LEP), Professor Athanasios Tsolakis, Chair in Thermodynamics, and Knowledge Exchange Fellow, Dr Pouriya Niknam.
Julian Todd, Director at Nocomoto; Kirsty Davies-Chinnock, Managing Director at Professional Polishing Services Ltd; Bob Mustard, CTO of Stalcom Automotive Technologies; and Derek Bond, CBM Consultant (Forgings) at The Confederation of British Metalforming, also presented their own case studies to share their personal experiences of working with the ATETA team.
The Energy Innovation Showcase represents the summit of six-years of industrial and academic collaborations. We wanted to highlight the state-of the-art research deployed by our talented academic colleagues and showcase the visionary industry leaders that are developing outstanding energy innovation, looking to modernise and solve current emission challenges. We were lucky to be work side-by-side with start-ups, spin outs, and micro-to-medium sized traditional businesses, and had the opportunity to learn much from our clients; this has in turn modelled our strategy for climate action solutions and the future of BEI-led business support. Through this, ATETA succeeded in bringing business and academic leaders together, both celebrated at the Showcase, the pinnacle of hundreds of technology transfer projects
Dr Lorelei Gherman, Business Engagement Manager on ATETA
The morning of presentations concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Lisa Trickett to explore how SMEs can contribute and benefit from the infrastructure and investment to support the development of energy efficiency and decarbonisation solutions.
