Lancaster University

One of the best kept secrets of the Government Business Support Industry is that there is actual, real, useful help available. In seven years of existence we have approached dozens of organisations set up specifically to help small businesses, all of whom have explained all the insurmountable reasons why we don?t actually qualify.

Lancaster University on the other hand, under the Knowledge Economy Initiative scheme have provided genuinely helpful help.

The Engineering Department?s Product Development Unit performed a detailed analysis of the strength of the Saddlechariot chassis and recommended improvements to bring it up to modern vehicle (not horse drawn vehicle) safety factors. They also turned my prototype automatic vehicle removal system into a compact, smooth, easy to manufacture, production version.

Dr. Allan Rennie and Stuart Taylor have provided the detailed engineering knowhow and independent assessment I so desperately needed.
And out of the lurid green InfoLab21 appear perfectly normal human beings, Andrew Foote, Sarah Bennett and Stuart Kember who came out to discuss turning my website into something rather more professional and had the good sense to realise that trying the product is part of the whole. Andrew, with no equestrian experience, drove solo round the paddock, and realised that this is an easy, entry level equestrian activity, and back in InfoLab21 produced a website that runs seamlessly and allows an idiot like myself to update text and photos.

If your business needs specialist help, try going to an organisation stuffed full of specialists. I have only scratched the surface of what Lancaster University has to offer the local community but know this is a business support scheme that does exactly what it says on the box.