News
Carbon Reduction Forum
Friday, 02 July 2010 06:55
The warm weather combined with the prospect delicious 'bacon butties' ensured an excellent turnout for the Ingenuity Programme's latest collaborative event with the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce.
A keen audience heard from a three speakers about what they were doing and what could be done to reduce carbon emissions while, in many instances, generating substantial cost savings.
Gavin Scott from the Estates Department of the University of Nottingham outlined the scale of the challenge facing the university which needs to substantially reduce its carbon emissions whilst continuing to grow as one the UK's leading academic institutions. Whilst some carbon emission is unavaoidable because of the equipment used throughout the university for research, the Estates Department have identified many options from investment in new technology to encouraging behaviour change which are being considered or currently implemented in order to reduce emissions and minimise costs.
The DNCC offices at Chesterfield presented Wilson Energy with an altogether different scale of issues yet, as Stuart O'Neil outlined in his case study, they still faced similar challenges and were able to reduce the overall utility costs for operating the facility by some 50%. The original target has been in the region of 10-15% but thorough investigation of the Chamber's situation opened up further opportunities for carbon and cost savings.
The series off brief presentations was drawn to a close by Keith Baker from the Environmental Technology Centre as he shared some examples of the work the Centre has carried out with small businesses. Once more, the cost savings were as significant as the reduction in their environmental impact. The ETC has some great examples of practical, innovative and cost-effective ways in which local small businesses have made environmental improvements and saved themselves money - take a look at their case studies.
Since Keith was also giving away vouchers which an be redeemed at the ETC for up to £2,000 worth of free consultancy/advice from him and his staff we expect to see some more interesting examples soon. The benefits he highlighted in his presentation can't be argued with so it's no surprise that he had a good response to his offer!
For those that chose to extend their morning's involvement with the University of Nottingham there was the opportunity to tour the 'Technology Demonstrator'...
Dr. George Rice with George Cowcher in the Technology Demonstrator
Dr. George Rice gave a brief introduction to the demonstrator and then encouraged everyone to 'have a go' with some of the very latest technologies being developed by the University of Nottingham - many of which are directly relevant, applicable and available to smaller businesses.
Also... Construction begins on £25M research facility for BioEnergy Research
Fit for Work Service
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 12:30
There are three ways the service can help you with practical support:
- Work Survival... Courses aimed specifically at helping you to manage your health and work.
- Support in Work... 1 to 1 help for you from a health professional to tackle health issues and stay in work.
- Working for Health... Independent advice and support for businesses to help develop and retain a healthy workforce.
Full details can be found at...
Evaluation of the Ingenuity Programme
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 12:32
The Ingenuity Programme is a publicly funded project and in order to ensure that it has and will continue to deliver good value for money, we have appointed Momentum Associates to undertake a thorough evaluation of the activities to date.
Staff from Momentum will be attending forthcoming events, meeting business & academic personnel and arranging face to face meetings to gauge reactions from those that have become involved in the Ingenuity process.
If you are contacted by Momentum I would encourage you, on behalf of the Ingenuity Team, to let them know what you liked and what didn't work out so well for you; also, if you would like to contact them directly then please feel free to do so.
We anticipate posting the key findings later in the year, probably in October.
Talent Builder Internship Programme
Wednesday, 31 March 2010 12:25
The University of Nottingham's graduate internship programme is the flexible, cost effective way to solve your recruitment needs.
Highly skilled graduates are available for short term Internships of between 1 – 12 months giving businesses the opportunity to buy-in the skills and talent required without entering into permanent employment contracts.
The Talent Builder Internship Programme (TBIP) is also the cost effective way to find, recruit and cultivate talented staff. With average salaries of around £14,000 for a typical 12 month internship the TBIP programme gives added value where businesses need it most. In addition the TBIP Team takes the hassle out of the recruitment process by offering businesses advice and guidance all through the recruitment process. We'll even assist with sourcing the right candidate and help with the interviews!
Building great teams is never easy but the Internships programme helps you to access intelligent, articulate, determined and enthusiastic graduates all of whom have expressed an interest in starting their career in the East Midlands working with organisations like yours.
Typical internships include: - Database design - Research
- - Product Development - Marketing plans
- - PR - Project Work
- - HR - Feasibility studies
Don't let market conditions stop your business from growing. Recruit an Intern today!
Healthy Individuals in Healthy Organisations
Monday, 22 March 2010 14:19
Improving work-related health and the quality of working life can have a dramatic impact on sickness absence, performance and staff retention - therefore...
This ESRC-funded project has been designed to help to develop healthier organisations that can facilitate and sustain individuals' work-related health and quality of working life. It goes beyond partial views of work-related health that focus on the individual and their job to examine important characteristics in the broader organisational context.
Organisations can benefit from this research project by:
- - obtaining an assessment of work-related health (e.g. job satisfaction, sickness absence, turnover, performance)
- obtaining an assessment of the factors that can affect work-related health and the quality of working life
- using this assessment for benchmarking and/or as part of the HSE's 5-step approach to risk management
- using the assessment to support interventions to improve work-related health
- demonstrating a proactive, evidence-based approach to promoting health at work
Involvement in this project is at no cost to participating organisations. By taking part organisations can gain access to expertise in the assessment and management of health at work. For more information go to: http://wellbeingincontext.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/detailed-information-on-the-project.pdf
To take part in this innovative work and to help develop a healthier organisation contact:
Dr Maria Karanika-Murray Dr George Michaelides
T: 0115 848 2425 T: 0115 848 2718
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University
This research is supported by the Economic & Social Research Council's First Grant Scheme (grant number RES-061-25-0344; "Understanding how impacts on health and well-being: The role of the organizational context")
Manufacturing & Technology Exhibition 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010 08:35
This was the second annual 'manufacturing' exhibition designed to showcase technologies and expertise from the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Derby that could have applications within the regions manufacturing sector.
Following the success of this years event, which built on the experience of the 2009 session, the three Ingneuity Programme universities are committed to a similar but hopefully a 'bigger and better' event in 2011 so if you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see please use the contact page on this site and let us have your thoughts.
Creative Exchange News
Saturday, 27 February 2010 14:23
With the Red Robot guarding the entrance to the exhibition hall timing was everything... once inside there was plenty to delight our visitors and exhibitors alike. The huge pneumatic spine might have seemed somewhat out of place next to the breakfast buffet but it certainly drew a crowd! The universities had plenty of courses on offer as well as extensive displays of digital technologies and product design expertise all to be explored with background music from a true 'surround sound system'. Guests could also experience walking through a 3D restaurant, creating sound from stretching fabrics and much much more.
An excellent display of university creative technologies well supported by the Mansfield business community.
Importance of New Ideas - Barometer Q4 - 10/12/2009
Thursday, 10 December 2009 09:53
Business Barometer Survey - Q4 2009
Seeking new ideas – To what extent do firms seek new ideas to support the running of their business?
Fairfield Controls - Innovation Award
Saturday, 05 December 2009 00:00
Nottinghamshire based Fairfield Control Systems is celebrating after receiving a 'highly commended' at the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) Innovation Awards which were held at Lord's Cricket Club. It was Fairfields innovative work on Wimbledon's Centre Court Court roof in the Software in Design category that brought the recognition although the company was also a finalist in the Built Environment category too.
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