Directing Research Into Viable Enterprise For Growth

Keele University has joined Stoke on Trent City Council, Staffordshire University and The Business Innovation Centre to launch a new INTERREG IIIB project – entitled DRIVE FOR GROWTH. 

DRIVE is a two year programme, worth 1.076m Euro, involving partners from Cork (South West Ireland), Brittany (France) and Stuttgart (Germany). 

The overall aim of the project is to promote and support greater linkages, interaction and productivity between research communities and industry. The objectives being to set up a forum where businesses looking to innovate or progress projects and services can easily access the expertise of researchers and other businesses, both within their local area and accross the whole of Northern Europe.

To ensure that DRIVE is a project which accurately reflects and addresses the needs of the small and meduim sized businesses in the North Staffordshire area a regional grid has been set up to offer advice and information to the project partners, a benchmarking survey is being carried out to provide information on the current status of knowledge transfer in the region and there will be events, workshops and forums held over the next two years which will ensure the DRIVE message is spread throughout the county.

The Trans-National website for the projects is currently under construction, but will be accessable by clicking HERE from September 2006

For further information regarding DRIVE, please contact:
Ms Dee Frankish
01782 583441
d.a.frankish@uso.keele.ac.uk