Current Health and Life Sciences Opportunities 

This update will provide you with some immediate trade and funding opportunities and some interesting STEM initiatives that your company can get involved in.  

Filming opportunity to boost trade links with Vietnam

Malcolm Brabon from Coast to Capital recently attended a successful trade mission to Vietnam which has generated lots of potential opportunities. Malcolm was interviewed by Vietnam TV (VTV) about our desire to develop international trading links with Vietnam and they would like to film some key locations and businesses in the Coast to Capital region.

If you would like to be involved please contact Malcolm directly malcolm.brabon@coast2capital.org.uk

£2.4M for SMEs available now

The new Coast to Capital Region Business Growth Grants Programme has launched to help SME businesses that want to grow and create new jobs. The programme is being run by West Sussex County Council and over £2m is available for this financial year. Grants range from £15,000 to £100,000 and the programme is inviting start-ups, existing businesses and social enterprises to apply. The grant may only be used for capital items. Applications for Expressions of Interest are now open and will remain open until 12 noon on 30 September 2016.Click here for more information.

STEM

Can you help a local Year 12 Student find their Nuffield Placement?

Several excellent Sussex Year 12 students are seeking 4-6 week summer Nuffield research placements. Anyone working in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths) role can be a placement provider.

How can taking on a Nuffield student benefit to your company?

• Developing your future workforce - the placements make a profound and lasting impact on a student's education and future career.
• Development of teaching and mentoring skills - particularly useful for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and staff looking to gain management experience.
• Potential contributions to published papers or grant applications.
• Contributing to pilot or side projects your staff struggle to find time for.
• Demonstrating your company's commitment to public engagement and corporate social responsibility

To see the student bios and the type of placements they are looking for click here. If you are interested in taking on a student please email Nuffield@brighton.ac.uk.

STEM Ambassador Programme

STEM Sussex are looking for more STEM ambassadors within the Health and Life Sciences community. Have you any staff members that you think would benefit from being a STEM Ambassador?

Why is the STEM Ambassador programme good for employers?

By supporting your employees' participation in the STEM Ambassador programme, you give them a brilliant opportunity to motivate young learners whilst developing their own communication, presentation and planning skills, and promoting your company to your local community.

How can my company get involved?

You can sign up any number of employees, from 1 to 1000! The only requirement is that they are interested in volunteering with young people, have some sort of background in Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths, and are willing to take part in at least one activity a year. Your employees could be involved in mentoring, company visits, classroom support (talks or practical activities), or big events like the Big Bang Fair South East. STEM Sussex send out a newsletter to all ambassadors every fortnight which details our current school requests - or you can always offer your services if you'd like to do something specific.

What happens next?

All ambassadors must attend a short induction session and obtain a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check with us before they are considered an approved STEM Ambassador and can start volunteering. Volunteers can sign up at https://db.stemnet.org.uk/register/ambassador - or you can contact STEM Sussex at ambassadors@brighton.ac.uk if you have any questions.

If you have any opportunities or stories that you would like to share, please email Rachael.merriman@westsussex.gov.uk.

Video of the old carriage works where Lancing Business Park is now situated

Click the image below to view a wonderful little film from the Southern Railway Film Unit made around 1936/1937 titled "Construction of an Express Electric Motor Coach, Underframes and Bogies at Lancing Works"

The old carriage works is where the business park is now situated.

Newsletter April 2016

Dear Constituent

 
Welcome to my April newsletter 2016 and hopefully to Spring though the weather seems to be showing little sign of that at the moment. Thank you to all those of you who have been to my ‘Talk to Tim’ public meetings so far where there has certainly been a lot of interest about the forthcoming EU Referendum. There are still 55 days to go and I will be holding further meetings to try to engage as many people as possible in this vitally important constitutional issue. I have been approached by a number of local organisations who are looking to arrange hustings with speakers from both sides of the debate and will hold off organising my own further meetings until those dates have been finalised.
 
I was delighted also with the response to our biggest ever pensioners’ fair held at the Guildbourne Centre in Worthing last Friday. This has become a regular feature now and I am grateful for all those who put in such a lot of hard work to make it a success. I will continue to update the special sections on my website as news comes in on things such as the local rail service and upgrades to the A27.

Meanwhile, the proposed closure of ticket offices by Southern has rather hit the buffers at the moment as both the trade unions and Passenger Focus have lodged their objections and it is now being considered by the Minister who I have spoken to. I have posted a letter from GTR from April 14th on my website which answers some of the upstanding issues raised at the public meeting I held in Shoreham too. Adding to passenger woes there was of course a strike earlier this week which caused major disruption. This is over the proposal to bring in driver-only operated trains. For the sake of balance I have published below the letters from both the GTR management and the RMT union with their respective positions on the action.
 
As regards the A27 we remain in a ‘limbo period’ until the Highways Agency produce their latest proposals which are still expected in November. I am aware that a number of residents’ groups held a meeting earlier this week and expressed concerns about the likely proposals involving duelling the A27 through Worthing and there was support for a bypass option running north of Worthing. This had already been ruled out in the earlier scoping work as representatives of the residents’ groups know who sit on the A27 Working Party chaired by Councillor Tom Wye, and who are specifically there to feedback to residents and represent their views. I know no more than them about the likely plans at the moment and will post everything I have on my website but again we are unlikely to have much more detail until November after which there will inevitably be an extensive public consultation exercise.
 
I hope you have noticed the video podcasts that I have been posting on my website (www.timloughton.com) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TimLoughtonEWAS/) recently which is proving very effective way of updating constituents with my position on various topical issues. Do let me know what you think.
 
Best wishes
 
Tim Loughton MP
Member of Parliament for East Worthing & Shoreham

Read more here... 

Your round-up of the latest manufacturing news

Teamsport Kartchamps

Each year Teamsport run a competition called kartchamps. A chance to win free karting for a month at any of our locations plus a track day up at Brands hatch in a mini cooper! All you have to do is become a member and submit your best laptimes to compete in one of our track attack nights.
Fastest drivers will compete at the final in Reading for a chance to be crowned kart champion 2016 and win fantastic prizes. 

See information below or pop in and see them at  2 Chartwell Road Lancing Business Park 

NOW LAUNCHED
Coast to Capital Region Business Growth Grants Programme.

The Coast to Capital Region Business Growth Grants Programme has launched and we are inviting Expressions of Interest from Small and Medium (SME) sized businesses that are looking to grow and create new jobs.

                          FIND OUT MORE                           

The Programme can provide up to 40% of a growth project as a grant to businesses within the Coast to Capital Region that can credibly demonstrate how the investment will lead to job creation and meet the eligibility criteria.

Grants of between £15,000 and £100,000 will be available to eligible businesses.
Businesses must be able to incur the grant in full by 31 March 2017 and the grant can only be used for capital items i.e. it may only be used to fund the acquisition, enhancement or creation of capital assets which have a useful life of at least 12 months.
Applications for Expressions of Interest are now open until 12 noon on 30 September or earlier, if the amount of funding available (£2,457,000) is awarded prior to this date.
For more information on the Coast to Capital Region Business Growth Grants Programme, and to access the Expression of Interest Form:

Visit the Business West Sussex website http://www.businesswestsussex.co.uk/businessgrowthgrants

E-mail the Grants Programme Team businessgrants@westsussex.gov.uk

                                                                                                               April 2016

From the people who make IT work for you                                  

Cyber security

Does this subject affect you and your business?

I was quite shocked to listen to the Jeremy Vine show on 1^st April 2106 to hear that Dr. Sarah Jarvis had fallen prey to a cyberattack. A sophisticated attacker hacked her Hotmail account. You can listen to the details 1 hour 36 min. into the program http:// www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074m4bj

Her e-mails and contacts were taken to run a scam. Her password was reset, too. Dr Jarvis contacted an expert straight away to help resolve the issue and avoided a worst case outcome. If at any time she had included her bank details or other highly private details in an email – the hacker now has all of that information.

So, what can you do to protect yourself?

Put an IT support contract with a reliable supplier into place, so you can reduce the cost to help you resolve your problem. A support contract may cost you less per year, than having your problem fixed ad hoc.

Purchase a good Antivirus software package. Free ones, often are not updated as a priority as incidents occur. Good, paid for ones will update daily, if you have set them to do so, and often pick up more than a free solution does.  There is so much truth in the expression “you pay for what you get”.  Should you have servers, rather than simply individual devices, always ensure the software also protects your server.

AND – most importantly – BACKUP your data! No access to data – you cannot run your business!

Discuss with your IT provider the best way to do this for your business.

So what are the current threats?

·       Phishing - sending emails to large numbers of people asking for sensitive information (such as bank details) or encouraging them to visit a fake website.

·       Water holing - setting up a fake website or compromising a legitimate one in order to exploit visiting users.

·       Ransomware - which could include disseminating disk encrypting extortion malware. 

·       Spear-phishing - sending emails to targeted individuals that could contain an attachment with malicious software, or a link that downloads malicious software.

·       Deploying a botnet - to deliver a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack.

The Financial Times published an article on this subject on March 27 2016, highlighting the dramatic rise of Ransomware, which uses encryption to lock you out of digital files until a monetary ransom is paid. Usually they ask to be paid in bitcoins. Globally these cases increased by 170% with the UK disproportionally hit, according to Intel Security.

Initially focussing on individual consumers they are now targeting businesses and government organisations – and the ransom demands are higher.

Earlier this year Lincolnshire County Council’s IT systems had to be shut down for almost a week, when they refused to pay a ransom demand.

Small and medium sized businesses, which likely have weaker security and less regular data backup systems, are particularly under threat by the attacks.

If you would like a FREE no obligation quote for a support agreement that will be your safety net when you need it, feel free to drop us a line.

Northstar Technology Ltd., No. 6 Winston Business Centre, Chartwell Road, Lancing, West Sussex BN15 8TU

T 01903 259923 | W northstarit.co.uk