The High Growth Innovation Fund has been designed to support high growth businesses in the Liverpool City Region who have innovative solutions to adapt and grow.
Part of the wider LCR High Growth Programme, the fund received applications earlier in 2022 from a range of businesses with a wide variety of proposals to tackle the issues we face in the city region and beyond, such as plans for increased digitalisation and low carbon technology. Recipients were announced in October 2022.
We caught up with one recipient, Heptron Manufacturing UK Limited, to find out how the High Growth Innovation Fund will help them to realise their plans.
Heptron Manufacturing UK Limited was formed to concentrate on the manufacture of newly-patented low-cost energy storage technologies which will drastically improve the return on investment of all other forms of renewable energy generation, including solar, wind and thermal systems.
Based in St Helens, Heptron are dedicated to showing the world that energy storage can be done in a different way, placing the Liverpool City Region at the forefront of pioneering energy solutions and making a significant contribution in the global fight against climate change.
Funding from the High Growth Innovation Fund will enable them to install a new assembly line, allowing them to mass produce a new form of renewable energy generation which has been specifically designed to help reduce domestic energy costs.
Heptron will also be installing a new automated manufacturing cell, using robotics to produce composite components that will then be used in their large-scale energy storage products.
Gary Murphy, Director of Heptron Manufacturing UK Limited, added:
“When [installation is] complete, our aim is to produce large scale energy storage systems which will have the capacity to store energy from on- and offshore wind turbines and very large solar arrays.
“Made in the Liverpool City Region, with patents granted worldwide, we will be able to supply a global market with a new form of environmentally friendly energy storage which requires no harmful chemicals, produces no pollution and all of the components used can be fully recycled.”
Work has already begun, with a new project team employed to install the equipment. The project is due for completion in early 2023.
While the High Growth Innovation Fund is now closed for applications, businesses in the Liverpool City Region can still access support from the LCR High Growth Programme, including funding via the Capital Grant Fund.
The LCR High Growth Programme is specifically designed to support high growth (or high growth potential) businesses in the Liverpool City Region to adapt, innovate, and grow; get in touch with one of our account managers to see how we can support you and your business.