Agenda item

Erica Russell – Director BSK – CIC

1.      Ms Russell give a brief introduction into her work experience, BSK had been in existence since 2002 and had 25 employees.  They worked with small businesses to support them to grow and develop their funding and technology.  BSK operate the HighGrowthKent coaching team, which was funded by KCC, to offer tangible support for ambitious, growth focused businesses.  BSK are involved in a number of projects, including life programmes, Interreg, Leonardo, EEN EACI across Europe and regional ERDF/ESF European funding led to skills development, job creation and international trade. 

2.      In response to a question about the use of tidal power in Kent Ms Russell confirmed that work was being undertaken at Isle of Wight Council into tidal power but that the technology and research needed to be brought into the South East region to allow Kent to progress, she believed there were currently no major companies in Kent working on tidal renewable energy. 

3.      Bearing in mind Kent had a Small Medium Enterprise (SME) economy a member asked how receptive Kent SMEs were to environmental ideas.  Ms Russell explained that in 2006 there was little response or interest; ideas had to be framed within a business context, to increase sales for the business and reduce cost.  It had been found that legislation was the least influential factor. 

4.      Ms Russell explained that BSK worked closely with Greenwich University and grants were offered through a consortium of £50,000 for feasibility studies.  Innovation vouchers were also available of £4,000-worth of university research to support projects.

5.      In response to a question about the use of offshore wind energy Ms Russell explained that a mix of renewable energy was used, offshore wind was part of this.  There were more SMEs involved in offshore wind and this was slowly increasing.  Swale Skills centre ran courses for apprentices in the energy sector. 

6.      It was important to find a way of tapping into European funding to help SMEs, and a member asked how KCC could best support SMEs in Kent.  Ms Russell explained that KCC could help in a combination of ways, the Regional Growth Fund was a very positive support to allow funding to grow; coaching and support had also proved successful. KCC’s work on climate change adaptations was once of the best in Europe, it was important that the funding structure had support from KCC behind it.  Ms Russell could then be commissioned to sell to the SMEs.

7.      In response to a question about the level of awareness of European funding Ms Russell explained that the level was currently low however caution was advised about suddenly raising awareness.  EU funding was complex to manage and KCC’s work with the RGF had been good because KCC were able to manage the complexity of the funding structures.  It was possible for SMEs to be served and represented by KCC.  Most SMEs were not worried about where the funding was coming from and would prefer projects to be managed by KCC (or a similar public body) to reduce bureaucracy.  SMEs also found it expensive to write bids but a well constructed bid was very valuable.