Research and Innovation in Sussex Excellence (RISE) – Impact

Impact

In the summer of 2021, the University of Brighton (Lead Partner), the University of Sussex (Delivery Partner) West Sussex County Council (Strategic Partner) and the West Sussex District and Borough Councils (funding providers), joined forces to create the Research and Innovation in Sussex Excellence (RISE) project.

Responding directly to gaps identified in the West Sussex Growth Plan, RISE was designed to provide robust innovation and growth support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) addressing economic challenges facing these businesses. By providing fully subsidised and direct access to the wealth of specialist academic expertise available at the universities of Brighton and Sussex, and access to a range of bespoke innovation programmes, the RISE project has been able to make a positive contribution to the local business community and economic wellbeing of our region.

The RISE team has supported over 200 SMEs and provided upwards of 2,300 hours of support through its five programme streams, contributing to the creation of at least 15 new jobs*, stimulating £400,000 of further investment in research and development and enabling the creation of at least 48 new to the company* or 40 new to the market products*.

*As per summative assessment[s] results 2023

“Micro, small and medium-sized businesses are the engine of our local economy and SMEs very much drive growth in West Sussex. They drive innovation, they’re finding and developing future solutions for businesses in the county and are providing jobs.”

Kate Hampton, Economic Growth Team, West Sussex County Council and Strategic Partner

University of Brighton – Lead Partner

At the University of Brighton, we’re passionate about our research and knowledge exchange, which enriches our teaching, cultivates partnerships and is recognised for producing significant societal and economic impact. Fresh thinking, interdisciplinary research, and collaborative partnerships with industry, Higher Education institutions, and communities enable us to bring expertise from different fields to address society’s most pressing issues.

By aligning our research with local sector strengths and growth areas and leveraging inward investment to fix global challenges, we apply and put that knowledge to work.

We focus on real-world issues and make concrete changes in our communities to improve the quality of life regionally.

We play a leading role in developing the regional innovation ecosystem –working with economic and business leaders to support innovation and skills-led growth. Our regional programmes provide structured and targeted routes to apply our research-informed expertise collaboratively to address business challenges, contributing to specific local needs and supporting the social and economic health of the Greater Brighton area and beyond.

www.brighton.ac.uk/business

University of Sussex - Delivery Partner

The University of Sussex champions challenging, creative and innovative knowledge exchange that contributes to bringing about a sustainable, socially just world.

Our collaborations with businesses, entrepreneurs and community organisations are creating new knowledge and innovative solutions to real-world problems. Our research, consultancy, technology and training mean we’re helping all kinds of people and organisations to achieve their goals.

We are committed to our role as an anchor institution that stimulates and engages with innovation across our region offering inspiring and

creative ways to address local, national and global issues.

Our approach is for new knowledge to be co-created for mutual value with our partners supporting productive and creative collaborations that bring about meaningful, impactful and sustainable outcomes for society, the economy and the environment.

We work intensively with regional partners to ensure that our knowledge and research expertise benefits business growth, supports local need and builds a better world for us all.

www.sussex.ac.uk/collaborate

West Sussex County Council – Strategic Partner

The Council works with our partners and neighbours to help create the right conditions for business to thrive. We deliver an Economy Plan for West Sussex that sets out our priorities in driving and sustaining growth to support a prosperous county. Our involvement in RISE provided an opportunity to address strategic challenges for the county’s businesses and economy, including the need to drive up productivity and businessled research and development, and promote employment in higher value, knowledge intensive industries. During and following the pandemic there have been additional challenges facing our county’s businesses. RISE was able to address some of these challenges so keenly felt by many businesses, for example around recruitment, the emerging green economy and the rapid advancement in digital technology.

For the RISE project West Sussex County Council has been a Strategic Partner, helping to inform delivery, and representing the County Council and the District and Borough Councils of West Sussex, who each provided match funding to enable the project, and who have all supported the RISE project team with advice and proactive promotion to local businesses. The Council welcomes the benefits brought to hundreds of West Sussex businesses through increased awareness and understanding of innovation, and providing brokerage with expert support from the innovation specialists at the Universities.

www.businesswestsussex.co.uk

RISE Programmes

The RISE team developed a suite of programmes that members were able to opt into when best suited them, and their business needs. Programmes began with introductory sessions on innovation, to sector or business specific masterclasses and workshops, and on to fully-funded R&D projects with input from subject specialists from the Universities of Brighton and Sussex. Members were able to access a minimum of 12 hours support, through 1-2-1’s, workshops or Access to Expertise projects.

“Doing things differently, being resilient for the future in a changing world, is about innovation. It’s about new ideas that are valuable not just to the organisation, but to society.”

Dr Paul Levy, University of Brighton

“Maybe there’s someone at the university whose entire career has been devoted to understanding these problems. You can tap into it, get a solution, and get on with building your company.”

Dr David Eggleton, University of Sussex

Access to Expertise

The Access to Expertise programme provides businesses with the opportunity to collaborate with academics from the universities of Brighton and Sussex, accessing up to around £7,500 market value of specialist research expertise to develop bespoke, specialist solutions for their business innovations. Working closely with university experts, companies have been able to develop new or existing products or services tailored to the specific needs of their business, supporting them in their growth journey.

Springboard Media worked with Dr Paul Levy, from University of Brighton, on their innovation strategy.

“To have access to academics and their research has really matured us as a company, and given us a far better understanding of the market we operate in.”

David Powell, Springboard Media

EPM Consultancy worked with Dr David Eggleton, from the University of Sussex, on the development of an E-commerce platform for train training business on grant funding.

“We had an idea, a concept that we wanted to take to a new service –the academics have really helped us to turn the idea into a viable product. We are now selling online services through an ecommerce platform, which is amazing. It’s been an amazing journey. The team has been fantastic at helping us through that, from the initial idea, incremental innovation, through to the launch of the new service. We have a viable prototype platform now.”

Kathy Vuillaume, EPM Consultancy

Consort Frozen Foods worked with Dr Paul Levy, from the University of Brighton, and ran bespoke ideations sessions with the leadership and staff teams to develop new concepts to utilise resources, expand services and create efficiencies. This has led to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership application.

“Most of the time, we’re running like mad to just to deliver our normal business, so we don’t have time to look at innovation, to look at our efficiency, to look at best practices. What these sorts of projects do is give you the collaboration, a bit like a mentor, and access to information, technologies and resources that you wouldn’t normally get.

What we have done is use the RISE project to facilitate the opportunity for innovation. And we’re very excited about where we’re going!”

Simon Renton, Consort Frozen Foods

Circular Inc worked with Dr Yan Wang and Dr Khuong Nyugen, from the University of Brighton, to investigate intelligent tools and systems to deliver scalable, realtime stock, logistics and sales solutions. This work has led onto a successful Innovate UK of £100,000 to continue work with the university School of Art and Media.

“We had an idea, a very woolly idea, about addressing the very analogue nature of clothing repair and how maybe tech could solve that. But because we’re not involved in software development, Machine Learning or anything like that, it was largely blue sky thinking. We had no idea if it was even possible. So having that link to RISE, and having links to the academics really helped, not only show what was possible, but opening doors to even more possibilities.

It’s exciting because there’s way more potential than we thought there would be, even from what we thought was quite an ambitious project to start with!”

Oliver Pepper, Circular Inc

Judges Choice Pet Food worked with Tim Laing, from the University of Brighton to Investigate the environmental impact of pet ownership and how this can be mitigated by pet food choice and manufacturing.

“I think when you’re in business you don’t really get the opportunity to stop and think about the depth of what you’re doing. It’s great to have an opportunity to sit down and thrash some of the challenges out with someone that’s unbiased and maybe can come up with some solutions.

This is all about being able to tap into expertise and expertise that we would absolutely never have had the opportunity to do so. We found out that we have amazing resources, just right on our doorstep. This is just the start.

There are so many avenues that we can now take […] this has really helped us form a plan and opened new markets for us, not just in the UK but abroad, and I think it’s helped us really focus, laser focus, on where we want to be going in the future and how to get there.

It’s basically opened our minds. [This project has] given us confidence to talk openly about some of the environmental impacts that we face, and that we face as an industry, a pet industry. I’m not just talking about from ownership point of view but everybody that manufactures pet food or is part of the pet food industry has a responsibility to the environment.

It’s not just about what you receive from the university, it’s what you can give back too – and I think working with a local university really strengthens the sense of community. And it really bridges the gap between business and education –and I think that’s really important, especially for the students.”

Chieko Chester, Judge’s Choice Petfood

Vitality Hemp worked with Professor Alan Dalton and Keiran Clifford, from the University of Sussex, on development of a hemp-based acoustic panel for the building trade.

“As a small business, a micro business really, we’re fortunate that we’re so nimble, it’s a real strength, we have to play to our strengths but also kind of leveraging the expertise and experience of other individuals, institutions is really important.

The [Access to Expertise] project has certainly benefited Vitality Hemp because we’ve been able to quantify some of the research areas – some the figures that we were hoping to see have been validated – that in itself enables us to the next step forwards towards registration of Intellical Property, commercialising the product and adding further value to the specifications of the product.

It’s been a really good collaboration.”

Nathaniel Loxley, Vitality Hemp

STEPS to Innovation

What is innovation really all about? Innovation has been a buzz word in the business world for decades yet in recent years, both academia and industry have researched and implemented new approaches to innovation that can contribute to sustainable and commercial success.

The STEPS to Innovation was a new programme developed by the RISE team and the University of Brighton’s School of Business and Law and provided an exciting, interactive and immersive series of Online workshops, which introduced the tools needed to become resilient and agile to develop innovation knowledge and skills to progress ideas to commercial value.

Over five stages, the participants climbed towards the realisation of the innovation idea in the commercial world, to firstly SCOPE the innovation idea (or ideas) then put those ideas to the TEST, EVALUATE before PILOT and SCALE up.

“I cannot recommend the STEPS course highly enough as it is guaranteed to make you stop and think, not only about how you do what you do now, but what you will do in the future as your business continues to evolve you might not have otherwise considered –ten hours of your time that might just change the course of your business”.

Clive Wilson, Clive Wilson Marketing

Horizons

The Tourism, Hospitality, Adult Health and Social Care, Manufacturing and Supply chain sectors were among the hardest hit during the pandemic and and as a result of the challenges of Brexit.

Guided by West Sussex County Council’s Economic Development Team, the RISE project developed three inspiring and sector thematic programmes of workshops and masterclasses targeted for these sectors, sharing the latest cuttingedge research and insights, and providing targeted support for organisations which reflected their specific challenges. The aim being to help them make the most from potential emerging opportunities.

20 Academics from across both universities delivered a variety of engaging workshops, masterclasses and webinars in three targeted areas.

+ Tourism and Hospitality programme -developed with Experience West Sussex and the Institute of Hospitality.

+ Adult Health and Social Care programme - developed with the Kent, Sussex and Surrey Academic Health Science Network.

+ Manufacturing and Supply Chain programme - developed with the local METALL forum.

Created to inspire confidence in new ideas and enabling businesses and social enterprises to take the next steps on their innovation journey, to develop agile and innovative approaches, enabling them to build resilience to challenges all this further supported through action learning sets.

The Horizons programmes enabled RISE members to maximise the networking element of the programme, which led to many collaborations.

Creating many in person events, including joint sessions for SMEs across tourism, health and wellbeing meant plenty of opportunities for networking creating fertile ground for new collaborations. In fact, the programme itself was agile, and true to the spirit of innovation as we also scoped, tested, piloted ideas with SMEs and academics to create relevant and engaging sessions that added value.

“I will continue to look at running my business with sustainability as its core.”

Donna Wignall, The Promotional People

“The Horizons programme has got me to think outside of my own box and cross over with other businesses with ideas on collaborating. It’s been fantastic to network with others and stimulate ideas – see what others are doing in their businesses. It also helped to move into other ideas I had but didn’t know where to start – a fantastic business dating opportunity!”

Karen Baird, Cuckoo Camp

RISE and Shine Club

The RISE and Shine Club was created for the RISE community of active innovators – providing a space for a monthly infusion of idea sharing, problem solving, collaboration and best practice.

Each month, RISE members meet at venues across West Sussex for three hours to network and support each other with challenges and opportunities and take inspiration from our ‘Innovation in Action’ session which showcased businesses from across the region who have successfully innovated in these challenging times.

“Every session has introduced a new concept or idea for me and it’s impossible to underestimate the value of face-to-face sessions - where talking to others and understanding their challenges gives a new perspective of my own. Overall, it is a sense of connectedness and joint endeavours that I found most helpful –I’m really grateful for everything RISE has offered.’’

Helen Cowper Own Your Own Self

Over 200

businesses supported

500+ business reached through events

Over

2,300 of hours of support received

6 programmes developed

52 innovation audits provided 63 workshops/ masterclasses delivered

54 academics taken part, from 13 schools

15 new jobs created*

40 new products or services supported*

12

24 R&D collaborative projects

3 business innovation workshops run for network partners innovation clinics ran in partnership with Business and IP Centres (BIPC), in Worthing, Horsham and Crawley, supporting 28 West Sussex-based businesses

*As per summative assessments results 2023

Reflection

I am proud of the RISE team and the remarkable platform we have built to foster innovation and collaboration amongst local businesses. Our tailored programmes, workshops, masterclasses and networking events have created a nurturing environment for businesses in the West Sussex region.

RISE has been a transformative endeavour, empowering individuals, catalysing innovation, and creating positive change. As Head of Project, I am grateful for this opportunity and excited to continue our journey towards a future of limitless innovation.

Lorraine Bell, Head of Project

Partnerships and collaboration have been at the heart of RISE. Through pooling resources, sharing knowledge, and leveraging diverse expertise, we have supported over 200 businesses in tackling complex challenges more efficiently.

As you have seen, from the impactful testimonials, RISE has not only bridged the gap between academia and business, but it has also made a fundamental difference to economic wellbeing of our participating businesses. None of this could have been achieved without the support of our project team who deserve so much credit for delivering the project so successfully. On behalf of everyone, thank you for all your hard work.

Joanna Havers, University of Brighton

As Project Lead at the University of Sussex, I have valued the opportunity RISE has presented to meet a diverse range of local businesses and understand more about the innovation challenges they face. Putting companies in touch with knowledge and expertise to help address these has been really rewarding.

It can be difficult to know where to start when faced with working with a large University. RISE provided that first step to begin the conversation with business and deliver some exciting tangible results with RISE members. We look forward to collaborating further with these partners to help support their growth, reach new markets and customers harnessing innovation and shared knowledge to achieve this.

Working with RISE strategic partners West Sussex County Council helped us to understand more about the specific sector challenges across our region that will inform our ongoing service offer and collaboration approach.

It has been enjoyable to work more closely with neighbours University of Brighton. We have gained a greater understanding of individual areas of strength and capability that is well placed to meet the needs of the local business community we both serve.

RISE has been the start of something that I look forward to evolving.

Kate Thorpe, University of Sussex

RISE Members

EPM Consultancy

Digisimple

Natrie Ltd

Well R Group

Secret Projects

CL8 Water Services

Connick Tree Care

O3E

Two Twenty 2

Colonnade House

Overpass Studio

Big Wave TV

Our Hope Hive

Your Sales Partners

Nettl inc Face Media Group

Network Xpress Limited

Creative Stack Ltd - Inc Lambda Vision Tech

FermionX Ltd

Shared Aim Ltd

Inspire-You

Eco Product Technology Ltd

Vitality Hemp Ltd

Seaside Creative Ltd

Circular Inc Ltd

Europe Project Management Ltd (EPM)

Saviour Skin Ltd

Africa Power Ltd

Preloved Designers

Fairway Cost Ltd

IMA International Ltd

Aquapax

Jackfruit Marketing

Crowdfund-360

Medisort

Gepaul Ltd

Powered by Vision

Genius Brighton

Innovative Partners

Simply Keys

Hepworth Brewery

Passiv Pod

Eye Puppetry Media

Getting Kids Social Again CIC

Dr Tony Cash & Associates

The Sensory Stylist

R G Hewitt

Sussex Writers Retreats

Flourish Cakes and Treats

Dr Claire Hepworth

The Learning & Development Company

Smarter Uniforms C. I. C.

Go Plan B

Judges Choice Pet Food Ltd

Springboard Media

Creative Reach Ltd

Ugly Duck Design and Animation Ltd

FreemanBreckon

It’s Pzazz

Hunterwood Interiors Ltd

Unusual Technologies Ltd

Brighton Energy Coop

London Clare

The Spotted Cow

Spark Bubble

Seagreens Limited

SkinGenius Skincare Ltd

Sirvez Limited

Newboldology Ltd

Chequers

Bright Spark Tutors

Inflatable Boat Fishing

Ishango

Catyscreations

Swimble Stick

La La Tigers

Shoreham Osteopathy Centre

The Big Lemon CIC

Dab Hands Just Cuts Ltd

Eco Earth Store Ltd

Huluki Sussex Stays / Huluki Property

Marketing

Board & Beast

Life Ladder Ltd

Arke Agency Ltd

Huskky Solar Ltd

Art Styles Academy

Nicholas Electrical Ltd

Consort Frozen Foods

Eluxevo

At the Coach House

School Medi Safe

Global OHS

WOOL SHrED

Posture People Ltd

Wobble

Cycle Brighton Ltd

Honey Lansdowne Therapy

Aldingbourne Country Centre

The Promantid

EducatAr

Fluid Composites

C S Holiday Lets

Ascender Design Ltd

Beautiful

Fung & Bedford

Hardball Games Ltd

Play Town

Tangmere Military Aviation Museum

South by West

Arundel Historic Tours

Oyster Diving

Cuckoo Camp

Attic Sound Ltd

Lorama Foods Ltd

Phoenix 4 Training LLP

Unda Hot Water Bottles Ltd

Prophecy Marketing

Woodpecker Camping & Piglets Holiday Lets

Feel Good Films

Tottington Manor

Out of Bounds Ltd

The Beach Company

Fishbourne Roman Palace

TAC Access Ltd

The Bias Cut Ltd

The Feminist Bookshop Ltd

Device Doctors

Huxleys Birds of Prey Centre & Gardens

Pod Wellness Ltd

The Float Spa

Starfish People HR

Chantry Farm

Sussex MS Centre

Avisford Park Hotel

Thriiver Ltd

Worthing Gin Ltd

Spike Insight

Fire, Salt and Sea Ltd

Juniper Bloom Social Media

Woodfire

E Jeavans Associates Ltd

Weald and Downland Museum

Conduit Associates (Sheena Thompson

Fluid Adventures Ltd

CULTUR3D Ltd

eMotion Micromobility Ltd

Mulberry Marine Experiences Ltd

enDesigns

Aviatrix

Fab my Life (Sensory Interior Design

SplashRobe

Clive Wilson Marketing

Pende Aesthetics

DevAssist Ltd

The Ceramic Stove Company

Lucy Ciaramella Coaching

Mary How Trust

Longwood Business Support Services Ltd

Avtura Ltd

Love to Date U Ltd

SIPL Solutions

Charlotte Anderson

Blendavenda Smoothie Bikes

Enterprise Exchange

Horsham Applied Minds Research Unit

Flixels

Sailboat Project

Blackbird Productions

Cybility Consulting Ltd

Espresso Solutions

Opozo Ltd

Kikka Digga

UPCY Ltd

Drewgard Ltd

Acopia Group Ltd

Mycarematters 2020 CIC

Care For Them Care Ltd

Andromeda Talent

Edgcumbes Tea & Coffee Ltd

Kuuceramics

Spliced Studios

Woodhouse Butchery South East Ltd

Skillsmart

Echo Orthopaedics

Thumbs Up World Ltd

Roaring Berry

Tomia Swim

Independent Lives

The Promotional People

Gemma North Consulting

The Sam French Group

EMC Ltd

Cheese Tours

Dementia Support Sage House

Chichester Marine Training

Airhost for You

Responsible Travel

Chichester Canal Trading Ltd

Portal Devices Ltd

Hexagon Hive

Urban Hazelnut

NDA Fitness

Ashes to Blooms

OYOS (Own Your Own Self

The Corner House Worthing

Serendipity by the Sea

Slake Spirits

Marmalade MTB

Cocoa Loco Ltd

Rushall Partnership

Made to Mend Ltd (Cultiva Kingdom)

Brighton Regency Routemaster

Bosham B&B

Diversity and Ability

Revision.ai

Really Regenerative CIC

Helen’s Real Food

Duncan Lethbridge

Green Campus

Visit Arundel Ltd

Little Birds Forest Nurseries Ltd

Lesley Burdett Photography

Bloom and Grow Massage Therapy

R.Iron Tech Ltd

Caremark

Spark & Bell Ltd

Blue Billboard Ltd

Together Co

East Beach Cafe

The Nadarra Process

Planterra Gardens

NP Massage Therapies

FayJay

Holistic Healing Therapy Ltd

Recycle to Trade Ltd

Bubblelife

Supra Design

ABCOM IT Solutions

Butters and Herbs

Try Physiotherapy

Hanatek Services Ltd

Household Automation Ltd

Custom Pharmaceuticals

ALPIC22

The Letting Partnership

The Flexitarian

Fotoly

Future Fashion Project

The Little Play Village

Lysandrou Ltd

SI Protech Ltd

Glazy

Jacob’s Bagels

Heal With Helen

SmoothEdge

Travel Counsellors

The Sussex Mum

Blossom Floral Couture Ltd

Mono Motorcycles

ReferAll Limited

Creative Hearth

H13 Digital Ltd

Verri Media LLtd

Sussex Data Solutions Ltd

Little Jasmine Therapies Ltd

Cooden Tax Consulting Ltd

Tutor Room Ltd

Grow-able

Pendulum Training Ltd

Grab it and Go

Sophie Ward Photography

Jennifer Spice tutoring

The Scar Wand

Watch This Sp_ce

Bold and Break

Mac PA Services

Rose Bungener Advisory

Workplace Legal Solutions

Seascape Blue

The Oneness Coach

Stella Rose

Pig’s Ear

Love Art Studios

Tea and Grazing Ltd

EcoMata Ltd

Interplanetary Enterprises Ltd

Test Chemistry

South Coast Orthopaedics Ltd

Jane Lee Interiors

Graded Films Ltd

My Networking Club

Tilney Energy Ltd

Sustainabuild Sussex

Vetflourish

Sling Studio Ltd

Rewilding Us

Nature Power Trading Ltd

Wild Heart Hill

Vezza Ltd

Heads Up Navigation

Glyn Davies Consulting

Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre

Cave Active Adventures

Healing Tree Hypnotherapy

Luxury Lawns Ltd

Status Education CIC

New Age Medical

Hatch Ideas World Wide Ltd

Berkeley Associates

Thanks

We want to thank all those involved RISE, the SMEs and researchers who participated in the programmes, and the network and economic partners that supported the project. A final thanks goes to the European Regional Development Fund and the West Sussex County Council District and Borough Councils for their funding, without which the RISE project would not have been possible.

Funders

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC, previously the Ministry of Housing of Communities and Local Government (MHCLG))

West Sussex County Council

Adur and Worthing Councils

Arun District Council

Chichester District Council

Crawley Borough Council

Horsham District Council

Mid Sussex District Council

University of Brighton

University of Sussex

Horizon programme partners

Experience West Sussex Partnership

Institute of Hospitality

Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network (KSSAHSN)

METALL Fourm

Event partners

Burgess Hill Business Park Association

Gatwick Diamond Business Association

Haywards Heath Business Association

Worthing and Adur Chamber of Commerce

West Sussex County Council

Kathryn Hampson, Economic Development Officer

University of Brighton

Joanna Havers, Associate Director, Knowledge Exchange

Lorraine Bell, Head of Project

Mark Hadley, Innovation Advisor

Zoe Webb, Innovation Advisor

Gavin Gunter, Head of Award Services

Laurie Johncox, RISE Project Manager

Ciara Gray, Senior Marketing and Communications Officer

Ronit Rose, Associate Director, Contracts and IP Susannah Davidson, Knowledge Exchange Manager

Andrew Sirs-Davis, Knowledge Exchange Manager

Stuart Hedley, Knowledge Exchange Manager

Jennifer Wells, Knowledge Exchange Manager Dr Marco Picco, Innovation Lead

Dougal Fleming, Innovation Advisor

Christopher Matthews

School of Applied Sciences

Dr Dipak Sarker

Dr Kevin Wyche

Professor Matteo Santin

Dr Nicolas Stewart

Professor Rameen Shakur

Wendy Macfarlane

Alex Slater

Dr Ryan Woodard

Balbina Acar (student

School of Architecture, Technology and Engineering

Dr Yan Wang

Dr Khuong An Nguyen

Dr Simon Walters

Dr Karina Rodriguez Echavarria

School of Art and Media

Dr Jules Findley

Anna Edmonds

Dr Jayne Lloyd

Joanna Offer

Josh Newman

Emma Collins

School of Business and Law

Dr Catherine Kelly

Dr Adam Jones

Dr Paul Levy

Asher Rospigliosi

Timothy Laing

Steve Reeve

Dr Kamila Walters

Liz Hawkins

Rageshree Sinha

Professor Marina Novelli

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr Shanu Sadhwani

Dr David Harley

School of Sport and Health Sciences

Professor Kathleen Galvin

Lisa Hodgson

Catherine Aicken

Dr Theo Fotis

Catherine Aicken

Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Dr Tom Grice-Jackson

University of Sussex

Kate Thorpe, Head of Business Partnerships

Dr Sue Baxter, Director Innovation and Business Partnerships

Nile Amos, Business Partnerships Manager Nick

Bull, Business Partnerships Manager Anne-Fay

Townsend, Business Partnerships Manager

Elisa Fortunato, Knowledge Exchange Manager

Marcus Atkinson, External Engagement Manager

Jo McKinney-Green, Consultancy Services Manager

Lorna Hards, Senior Research Culture Consultant

Carrie Prew, Editor

Kevin Brady, Senior Technical Specialist

Business School

Associate Professor Maria Holgado Granados

Professor Debbie Keeling

Dr Makafui Kwame Kumodzie-Dussey Josh Newman

- Science Policy Research Unit

Dr Aniekan Essien - Science Policy Research Unit

Dr Ralitsa Hetiva - Science Policy Research Unit Dr

David Eggleton - Science Policy Research Unit

School of Engineering and Informatics

Dr Giovanni Contreras Garcia

Dr Alexandre Rodrigues

Dr Julie Weeks

Dr Hsi-Ming Ho

Luca Giacomoni

Ahmed Younes

School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Professor Alan Dalton

Keiran Clifford (student

School of Media, Arts and Humanities

Dr Danny Bright

School of Psychology

Professor Nicola Yuill

Dr Samantha Holt

The RISE programme received up to £603,514 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 in England. Grant Reference: 04R21P04430

The European Regional Development Fund aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances between its regions and focuses on a number of thematic priority areas. Two of these areas are:

+ Innovation and research

+ Support for small and medium-sized enterprises

ERDF funding will cease in the UK by the end of 2023. ERDF is supported by and managed in the UK by the Ministry of Housing of Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)

The West Sussex Councils also provided partnership funding to support the delivery of RISE, and through this, to provide help and support to SMEs in West Sussex.

The University of Brighton and the University of Sussex also provided match funding for the RISE project.