The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund Roadshow

Leeds Armouries

Author Xtrmemachineuk Licence CC BY-SA 4.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

Hours after returning from Estonia, I drove to Leeds to attend the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II Roadshow at the Royal Armouries Museum. Readers will be aware of my interest in this fund from my articles Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II of 4 April 2024, Innovate UK Regional Investment Spotlight – Liverpool of 6 July 2024 and Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II - Meeting the Funders of 14 July 2024 in NIPC Northwest and Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund's First Investment in Yorkshire of 19 July 2024 in NIPC Yorkshire.

The roadshow consisted of an introduction to and overview of the Fund by the British Business Bank, presentations by the Business Enterprise Fund and Mercia Asset Management and questions and answers to a panel consisting of representatives of the funding institutions.   

I asked two questions.   

The first arising from the government's announcement that funding to local enterprise partnerships had ceased in April 2024 which I mentioned in The End of LEPs in NIPC News on 8 Aug 2024 was how well local authorities were coping with their business advice and support tasks that the LEPs had performed since 2010 and Business Link before then.  I was encouraged and not a little surprised to learn that the institutions had found the transition from LEPs to elected authorities had gone well.  My experience had been more patchy.  I delivered a 90-minute introduction to IP law to staff at the London Boroughs Legal Alliance on 1 Oct 2024 which seemed to go down very well.  On the other hand I shared the slides and offered to repeat the talk to staff members of my own mayoral authority but have not yet received a response.

My other question was prompted by a response that I had been given at the Innovate UK Regional Investment Spotlight in Liverpool.   I had asked about going public and was told that the Alterbatve Investment Market or indeed any kind of stock market flotation was no longer available to successful scale-ups.  I did not understand the answer so I asked the Mercia fund managers for their experience.  Several said that they had clients who had made successful initial public offerings.

The event concluded with networking over hot drinks and pastries,   It was good to see Colin Glass of WGN Business Advisers and Stephen Waud, Chief Executive of the Business Enterprise Fund for the first time in years.  I also met Peter Sorsby, Investment Director of Mercia Asset Management.   

Altogether, it was a good day out of chambers.   Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Space Hub Yorkshire

Author NASA  Public domain  Source Wikimedia

 

Jane Lambert

On 8 May 2022, I wrote Opportunities for Yorkshire Businesses in Space about an event at the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre on Opportunities for Manufacturers in Space which was promoted by the Leeds City Region Supply Chaim Programme and Space Hub Yorkshire.  

Space Hub Yorkshire describes itself as "a coordinator of Space activity across the region, a catalyst for new satellite and geospatial data markets, a source of Space expertise, a facilitator of new collaborations, a driver of investments, a champion for Space start-ups and an advocate for Space research and industry opportunities." It offers businesses funding opportunities, business development events and support, a way into cutting-edge research in academia and access to skills,  It has just published its first newsletter which announced a 2-day conference at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on 11 and 12 June 2024 on the theme "Ignite Space 2024".

The theme of the second day of the conference was "How the North of England can make the UK a Space Tech Superpower." This was a collaboration between Space Hub Yorkshire and the North East and North West Space Clusters to launch Space North, a project funded by the UK Space Agency to boost Space sector growth across the UK.

The Space North collaboration is likely to lead to many technical advances,    In The Role of Intellectual Property in Space Commerce I made the following recommendations in NIPC Cornwall which bear repetition here:

• "Unless and until they are ready to apply for a patent, they should take great care to keep sensitive documents under lock and key when not in use and to ensure that all staff, collaborators, suppliers and others do the same.
• Any sensitive information should be disclosed in confidence with the terms of the disclosure set out in writing.
• Monitor any disclosures and require the return of any documents and copies once the purpose of the disclosure has been met.
• For suitable inventions, apply for patents not just in the UK but in all important markets and in the countries of your main competitors.
• Never forget alternatives to patenting such as copyrights for software, database right, unregistered design right and trade marks for brands."

Should anyone wish to discuss this article or any of its contents, call me on +44 (0)20 7404 55252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.