05.10.2005
Alteon Training UK Ltd. in Manor Royal, Crawley at the heart of the Gatwick Diamond, trains the future pilots, engineers and cabin crews, and hosted the University of Brighton's third 'Engineer your business' event in West Sussex.
Engineering and manufacturing businesses met with the university's engineers to hear how the university works with business. Captain Graham Peck, Alteon's Director of Flight Training then invited everyone to a tour of their facilities and after a ride in a flight simulator he said: "We all had a very enjoyable day and we're pleased to support engineering in Crawley".
Head of the School of Engineering, Dr Mark Jones said: "Collaborating with the university and exchanging knowledge and experience leads to real benefits at relatively low cost and risk to business. The message that we give to companies such as Alteon, is that they can collaborate with the university at all levels, ranging from student placements and projects to full research programmes and companies can often benefit from government incentives."
Mark Bullen, Managing Director of Geoff Bullen Electronics, which is based in West Sussex, teamed up with the University of Brighton to successfully bid for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) grant from the DTI. The grant allows the company to employ a top class graduate to develop new products and services, along with free specialist consultancy and use of resources from the University of Brighton for the next two years.
Mark said: "Working with the university helped fill a skills gap critical for a new product launch and we have already reaped the benefits of increased customer support and positive effects on cash flow."
Dr Jones said: "The 'Engineer your business' event, gives us the opportunity to talk in depth to business managers, and lay the foundations of solid relationships with businesses in the Gatwick Diamond, and we're looking forward to developing these over the coming months. Working with businesses keeps us directly involved in the commercial world and offers the School's staff and students challenging problems and issues to resolve."
For more information on how the University of Brighton works with business, please contact Linda Boize on 07958 515487 or l.m.boize@brighton.ac.uk.
Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton,
01273 643022
