5th February 2012
Bedford business wins share of £400k to test bright idea
14th Dec 2009
A small business from Bedford has won a share of £400,000 to help test the commercial potential of their new business idea – a robotic system to help molecular scientists working in laboratories.
The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has announced today that 29 companies across the region will receive Proof of Concept funding to hone all sorts of ideas for innovative new products and processes. Projects include new techniques for art restoration, a pioneering new smoke alarm and a tracking system for missing persons at sea.
Bedford–based eXeTek received £7,500 to test the commercial potential of their innovative robotic system, AMBRA (Automated Molecular Biology Reaction Assembler).
Stuart Hill, director of eXeTek, said:
“EEDA’s grant will help eXeTek to analyse the potential market for the AMBRA system and match the pricing specifications to the market demand. The short application process for the Proof of Concept award has enabled us to move our project forward at a rate consistent with the demands of a high-tech small business like ours.”
Trevor Conway, EEDA’s business finance manager, said:
“Despite the recession, there are still ambitious entrepreneurs out there trying to bring new products to the market. EEDA’s Proof of Concept funding is there to give these people a head-start; to really identify gaps in the market and how they could adapt their projects to fill those gaps.”
“We have actually seen a distinct rise in applications for EEDA Proof of Concept funding in this latest round – a real testament to the ambition and resilient nature of businesses across the East of England, the UK’s ‘ideas region’.
EEDA are now accepting proposals for the next round of Proof of Market funding (new name for the Proof of Concept fund), with the deadline for applications at 5pm on Friday 8 January 2010.
Visit www.eeda.org.uk/finance for more information and to download an application form.
