About Innovation in the East Midlands

Innovation is the successful development and introduction of new ideas.

Innovation is an increasingly important way for businesses to maintain a competitive advantage and achieve their growth potential. In a global economy where there is less opportunity to compete on a costs alone basis, innovation becomes a key differentiator.

East Midlands Innovation acts as a one-stop-shop for information about available support and research expertise available to help individuals commercialise their ideas into successful businesses. The site is designed to encourage collaboration between businesses and the regional knowledge-base and support providers, and to showcase the wealth of innovation activity and expertise in the East Midlands.

It includes profiles on over 500 academics and research centres from the ten regional universities, comprehensive information on support available from central, regional and local government alongside interactive tools to encourage collaboration and innovation.

East Midlands Innovation Background

In 2008 Idox Information Solutions Ltd was contracted by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) to design and develop its regional online innovation portal - eminnovation. emda recognised in its 2007 Regional Innovation Strategy that central to delivering economic prosperity in the East Midlands was the stimulation of innovation to ensure businesses maintain a competitive advantage and achieve their growth potential.

Following the Government’s announcement to close all nine Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) by March 2012, emda released a competitive tender process to engage stakeholders who would help maintain the legacy of the site. Idox was awarded the contract in July 2011 and took on the overall responsibility of the portal in September 2011.

About Idox Information Solutions Ltd

The Idox Information Solutions division – part of the Idox Group – provides information management, web development and online publishing products to clients across the public, private and charitable sectors.

The division specialises in the design and development of online systems to support economic development. This includes major platform developments for UK government clients, including the voluntary sector finance portal Funding Central. It also provides a wide range of online information tools to connect beneficiaries to private and public funding sources, expertise and development support.

The division has also pioneered the development of innovation and knowledge transfer portals across Europe, undertaking consultancy and development projects with the European Commission, and national and regional governments in Ireland and the UK. With expertise spanning technical development and content architecture, it offers clients unique insights into how their online presence can be designed to support categorised, searchable resources and focused information delivery. It encompasses experienced and scalable editorial teams expert in classifying and structuring data as well as researching and writing web content.