Services
Our services are specifically designed to provide new-start businesses with the edge they need to survive and flourish.
INFORMATION
For a business to survive and thrive today, it must depend on critical information. Read More
INFRASTRUCTURE
The basic infrastructure of business support is provided by our regional network of business incubators which exist specifically to help startups succeed in the early stages. In addition, EMIN acts as a gateway to the intellectual infrastructure: courses and training and introduction of best practices that help keep our companies competitive. Read more
NETWORK
EMIN is about surrounding yourself with the best network you can. Your network can help you to grow your business, increase sales, reduce costs and avoid the mistakes that others have made. Read more
Information
Access to information is critical to the success of your business or organisation. EMIN aims to help your business to establish reliable sources of business intelligence.
Clear Intelligence
Clear Intelligence is an enquiry service that provides confidential access to hard-to-find information – you won’t find this data via Google. A team of experienced research staff provides specific market & business intelligence - rather than reams of data - to help you develop your business and reduce the risk of failure. This is a free service for businesses located within one of the EMIN partner incubators * in which case you have an allowance of 3 queries per month.
Ask the Expert
If you have a specific business question, try the Ask the Expert service. A panel of experts are available to answer business questions relevant to their field. There is no charge for this service. You simply need to be registered on the website to ask a question.
Technology opportunities
The technology catalogue provides details of hundreds of new technologies & partnering opportunities from all over the UK & Europe. The technology catalogue also contains details of organisations seeking technology solutions which you may be able to provide. This is a very useful service if you are looking for strategic partners for manufacturing, distribution licensing, joint venturing or technology development.
Tenders & contracts
As a business, you may have a specific interest in tenders & contracts. EMIN Tenders is a feed that offers pre-filtered UK and European tender opportunities, daily, into the following categories: Civil Engineering/Communication/Design and Print/Environmental/ I.T./Professional Services. The service also providestender support documents & market analysis facilities to help you identify: market trends, who buys what, who wins contracts & who is going to purchase what in the future etc.
Funding
GRANTnet is the UK’s leading free-to-use funding database. GRANTnet is a straightforward free-to-use service that helps users to identify suitable funding for their activity or project. It enables small businesses to search across a huge range of funding sources.
*: EMIN partner incubators include: The Innovation Centre at De Monfort University; Bank's Mill, the iD Centre & Network House at the University of Derby; the University of Leicester; Sparkhouse Studios at the University of Lincoln; Portfolio Innovation Centre at the University of Northampton'; The Hive at Nottingham Trent University.
Infrastructure
A fundamental aim of EMIN is to help improve the business support infrastructure across the East Midlands.
There are over 30 business incubators in the EMIN network which effectively provides the physical infrastructure to help startups succeed in the early stages.
The benefits for a startup to locate in a business incubator are many. According to the UKBI website, business incubators 'provide a nurturing, instructive and supportive environment for entrepreneurs during the critical stages of starting up a new business'. Most importantly, "business incubators have an average success rate of 98% of businesses succeeding whilst in the incubator (compared to a national average of less than 50% of all small and medium sized companies registered) and 87% surviving after 5 years of starting".
As well as helping small businesses find appropriate office space in incubator units within the East Midlands, EMIN's Soft Landing Zone programme provides assistance to companies looking at exploring foreign markets.
Of equal importance to the physical infrastructure is the intellectual. For our members, EMIN acts as a gateway to the intellectual infrastructure through a variety of training courses, self-assessment and introduction of best practices that help keep companies competitive.
Network
At EMIN, we believe that the chances of succeeding in business are dramatically improved by surrounding yourself with a network of quality contacts. Networking helps you to develop your business, increase sales, reduce costs and learn from other people's mistakes. It also helps you keep an open mind.
As a small business, you will typically agonise over spending time away from the office & even question the value of engaging with business networks. But the real question you should be asking yourself is this: can you afford not to network?
Networking opportunities are frequently advertised on the EMIN website so don't forget to check the News & Events sections regularly. Registering on the website will subscribe to our e-bulletin which will be regularly sent to your email inbox.
The website is designed to enable you to plug into the EMIN network with ease. We recommend that you create your company profile (the option is available in the My Emin section) so that it appears in the online Directory.
Other interactive My Emin features include the facility to:
- create or join private networking groups
- create adverts (jobs/special offers) that appear in the News & Directory sections
- save fellow members' contact details
Finally, click here to view a list of business networks currently active in the East Midlands (feel free to comment if I've missed any), each of which represents a potential opportunity to your business
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