The body tasked with driving up innovation in the West of England’s growing healthcare sector has generated more than £12m to support collaborative projects between health service providers, industry and universities. The West of England Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) plays a critical role in improving healthcare delivery throughout the area and beyond. The...
SETsquared, the University of Bath-backed innovation partnership, has been named as the best in the world after creating 9,000 jobs and contributing £3.8bn to the UK economy. From its launch 13 years ago, SETsquared – which has its Bath base in the city’s Innovation Centre – has supported more than 1,000 hi-tech start-ups to...
The CBI welcomed the spending review’s commitment to longer-term investment in the economy but said there was a sting in the tail in the size and scope of the £3m apprenticeship levy. Director-general Carolyn Fairbairn said: “Businesses will be pleased to see the Chancellor staying the course on deficit reduction, his commitment to an...
Bath business experts have given a mostly positive reaction to Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review. Ian Bell, executive director, Bath Chamber of Commerce and the Initiative in Bath & North East Somerset – part of Business West – said it contained some positive news for the region. “Once again the ‘builder’...
Chancellor George Osborne has delivered his Autumn Statement and Spending Review. These are the main points: Chancellor says five years ago UK economy was in crisis. Debt will fall this year. £12bn of welfare savings will be delivered in full. Britain has grown faster than any other G7 countries since 2010. Economy is predicted...
High-growth businesses in the Bath area are to be offered specialist support under a scheme launched by Barclays. Called ‘Barclays High Growth and Entrepreneurs’, the initiative is in direct response to what the bank sees as Britain’s ‘scale-up gap’, and will also help the UK compete on the global stage. Barclays believes that by...
Investing in innovation and strategic acquisitions has paid off for manufacturer Avon Rubber with annual pre-tax profits climbing by 19%. The Melksham-based group, which makes gas masks and respirators for the military and emergency services and rubber products for the global dairy industry, achieved an 8% increase in revenues to £134.3m in the 12...
Bath’s biggest engineering group Rotork today insisted a double-digit fall in recent orders and revenues would not hit its profits. The firm, which makes sophisticated valves and industrial control equipment for the global oil and gas industry, revealed that its order intake in the third quarter dropped 17.2% in period from the same period...
A London-based venture capital firm is highlighting Bath and the West of England as one of Europe’s most attractive places for investment in start-up companies. Since its launch just over a year ago, Downing Ventures has invested almost a third of its entire portfolio in start-ups based in the Bath-Bristol area. Its investments include...
Alliance Pharma, the Chippenham-based speciality pharmaceutical firm, is to receive £6.7m in compensation for lost sales of a bladder cancer treatment. ImmuCyst, one of its top-selling drugs, had peak annual sales of more than £4m before Alliance’s manufacturing partner French healthcare giant Sanofi Pasteur suspended production in mid-2012 at a Canadian plant after mold...
