Business Innovation & Funding

Business innovation should be an accessible goal for organisations of all sizes and does not always have to revolve around technology.

There are many ways in which businesses can think creatively about how they adapt to the rapidly evolving needs and tastes of their audience.

However, businesses are often restricted by a lack of finance, resources, time or know-how to get ideas off the ground. Plus, unpredictable world events can make it difficult for businesses to think about business innovation.

Our growth managers can work with you to refine your plans and, with strong links to partner organisations and educational establishments, help you find a route through any barriers that you may be facing.

In addition, we can provide innovation advice to organisations that are looking to relocate to York and North Yorkshire. Whether you are a foreign-owned or UK business looking to expand, relocate or invest, Invest in York & North Yorkshire can help.

We can help with:

  • Structural barriers
    Tackling natural or tactical barriers that arise preventing new entry into your market.

  • Financial Barriers
    Wanting to make change but lacking the funds to accomplish these goals

  • Business communication 
    Improving internal and external practices and reducing errors by sharing information in the right way.

Fund your business innovation with Made Smarter

If you’re a manufacturing business that is looking to increase the use of technology and expand your business capabilities, the Made Smarter programme could help you access advice, support and even grant funding.

Whether you are completely brand new to digital technology, or you have already started your digitalisation journey, you will be able to receive bespoke advice on anything from skills and leadership to innovation strategies.

Adopting new technology can be daunting, but the Made Smarter scheme will enable you to get the best advice and support from the pioneers and experts in national and local industry bodies.

Made Smarter is encouraging the UK’s next industrial revolution by giving you the competitive edge in a rapidly-growing industry. The programme aims to bring the best out of the UK manufacturing industry by upskilling and encouraging collaboration and innovation – keeping us ahead of the competition in the global manufacturing stage.

Get Made Smarter

Find out more about Innovation

To find out more about how we can help with Business Innovation, get in touch.

Contact us

Articles

Choc Affair Wins Prestigious Made Smarter Yorkshire & Humber Award

The region's manufacturers took centre stage at Insider's 2024 Made in Yorkshire Awards. The prestigious event celebrated Yorkshire and Humber's world-class companies and their impact. One of the big winners was Choc Affair, the beloved York chocolatier renowned for its ethical and award-winning creations. Choc Affair clinched the top spot in the Made Smarter Yorkshire & Humber Awards.

Events

12th April 202410:00 am - 11:00 amFREE

12 April Webinar: Are you up to Standard? Officially...

Whether you are selling a products or services, you want to make sure you’re up to the standards. In the UK, Trading Standards teams enforce over 80 parliamentary acts and pieces of legislation. So, are you up to their standards? We want you to be. In this friendly session, we’ve invited expert, adviser and coach Russell Bignell to guide us through the challenge of ensuring we are meeting and exceeding the standards expected of UK businesses.

Resources

Webinar Recording : How to pitch your product to a Retail Buyer

How do you know which retailers to approach? How do you approach the Buyers (the ones with the spending power)? And once you’ve found the right retailer and the Buyer, how do you convince them to sell your product? In this 1 hour session we will take you through the best way to find, approach and pitch to a retail buyer. We will prepare you with an overview of the Buying cycle, review the considerations that you will need to be aware of, share questions a Buyer might ask and provide a clear outline for the perfect pitch.