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Business Innovation Support Coordinator

Employer
West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)
Location
16 Summer Lane, Birmingham
Salary
£34,899-£39,278
Closing date
20 Sep 2021
Reference
WMCA00438

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Sector
Local Councils
Job Type
Policy
Contract Type
Fixed Term Contract
Working Pattern
Standard
Hours
Full-Time

Job Details

The Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands (IAWM) team sits within the West Midlands Combined Authority's Strategy & Economy directorate, and is an alliance of organisations active or interested in science and technology based innovation across the West Midlands. We engage in activities that support the delivery of innovation objectives of the 3 Local Enterprise Partnerships (GBSLEPBCLEP, and CWLEP); the West Midlands Combined Authority’s ‘Strategic Economic Plan’, and the roll-out of the West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy by the West Midlands Innovation Board.

Everything that we do is about building and maintaining a thriving innovation ecosystem, and stimulating and catalysing a pipeline of innovation activity.

We're now looking for an equally innovative Business Innovation Support Coordinator to join the team on fixed term basis until September 2022.

The role will be responsible for IAWM’s work to join up and enhance the 'Innovation Support for Business' offer in the West Midlands, working with the WMCA and LEPs. The role will use specialist knowledge to enable businesses to better navigate the plethora of programmes available to both their location and specific needs.

What will you being doing?

  • Pilot the approach of a specific innovation account manager, with favourable contribution to GBSLEP, measuring the impact to determine future funding routes for continuation of service
  • Lead on the Innovation Culture aspect of IAWM’s work within WMIP and contribute to the development and delivery of Innovation Challenge and other IAWM led events
  • Starting with a GBS LEP pilot, offer specialist support to the Growth Hub advisors/ account managers, helping SMEs to navigate and identify the support offers to fit needs
  • Lead on the development and operation of the Innovation Support Forum
  • Oversee the Innovation Tracker development and collection of cases, and developing its use as a means of showcasing to businesses what innovation can look like
  • Work with LEPs and Growth Hubs to engage businesses in innovation activity o Work with the Virtual Innovation Team (VIT) to understand barriers and enabler to SMEs innovating
  • Contribute to the development and delivery of Innovation Challenge and other IAWM led events, as appropriate
  • Act, as appropriate, as a spokesperson and ambassador for the Innovation Alliance WM and for Innovation in the West Midlands, developing and maintaining strategic relationships with key organisations and individuals

About you

We're looking for someone with sound knowledge of innovation drivers, policy and funding in the UK, and an understanding of local economic development issues; experience in the West Midlands context is desirable. You'll need an understanding of business culture and drivers gained through working in or with the private sector: experience with SMEs is particularly desirable.

Experience of developing and/or managing large multi-partner projects, with partners from a wide range of backgrounds and sectors, and experience of bidding for and managing public funds at scale, with experience of writing business plans and/or Green Book cases, is desirable.

Tenacious, with good organisation and excellent communication skills, you'll be skilled at teamworking and have great networking skills. 

About the team

The Strategy and Economy directorate brings stakeholders in the region together around shared strategic ambitions to ensure that we are always more than the sum of our parts. The Directorate develops and supports the WMCA Corporate Strategy, and develops policy and programmes focussed on economic development, devolution, culture, digital, and other areas where the WMCA has an enabling and influencing role. The Directorate engages with Government, think tanks, universities, and others to make sure our voice is heard, and supports new and emerging policy thinking. The Directorate also hosts the Office for Data Analytics and Energy Capital, a regional public-private partnership.

About us

Our role in the West Midlands has never been more important and in these extraordinary times we’ve shown we can step forward, speak up for our region and bring people together. Everything we do is focused on making life better for people in the West Midlands – that’s our reason for being here and it drives every move we make. We lead and support others to deliver our shared future vision for the region – a happier, healthier, better connected place to live and work. 

We fully believe that we are only as great as the people who work for us and are committed to providing a positive, healthy and inclusive working environment where our people feel valued and respected. We are a “Leaders in Diversity” accredited organisation, are in the Inclusive Top 50 Employers List and are one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women.

Our employees feel they can make a difference and are excited by the growth and the potential to shape the future. As we undergo a period of significant change, our employees are engaging with what is going on and we are encouraging a culture where people feel they can contribute towards improvements.

We’re ambitious, forward thinking and determined to find better ways of working, always leading the way in what we do. We trust and support each other to get the job done, and encourage creativity, originality and curiosity from those who work with us. We’re committed to creating an accessible and diverse workplace, one that nurtures an inclusive environment where our people can be themselves.

If your values align with ours and you’re committed to working towards creating a future we can all be proud of, we want to hear from you.

Additional information

We are designing our organisation of the future and planning a new, flexible approach to the way we use our office space.  This approach will mean most of us working from home some of the time and using our office space to come together to share ideas and learn from each other. We will continue to use digital technology for meetings, collaboration and communications - bringing teams together virtually wherever they’re working, saving time and spending on travel.

We are committed to developing an organisation that is representative of the diverse communities that we serve and welcome applications from all sections of the community. The following groups are currently underrepresented: young people, Black, Asian and ethnic minority groups and women at senior levels.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who meet the essential job role criteria. We will make reasonable adjustments, in line with the Equality Act, for disabled applicants if these are needed. Wherever possible we will offer flexible working options which assist work-life balance.

We’re dedicated to providing a broad range of rewards and benefits and constantly benchmark our benefits packages to ensure they are attractive for all our people. As well as a competitive salary, employees also receive a benefits package that includes 27 days annual leave (plus public holidays) and access to a great pension scheme.

Supporting documents
Business Innovation Support Co-ordinator.pdf

Company

From Monday 11th December 2023 an exciting change happened for us as an organisation - we have implemented a new system which will improve your candidate experience! To access your candidate portal for our new system, head to https://wmca.wm-jobs.co.uk/members/

If you already had an application in progress with us before the new year, don’t worry, this will continue as it normally would and there will be no impact on your application or the process. More information on our new and improved system can be found on the WMJobs help pages

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) was set up in 2016. We're made up of 18 local councils and 3 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs). Our goal is to make the West Midlands a happy, healthy, place to live. We do this by:

  • making it easier and safer to travel in and around the region
  • using derelict land to build homes
  • protecting our green spaces
  • making sure young people have the education and employment opportunities to make a great start in life
  • working together to support our communities and build a fairer, healthier and more inclusive West Midlands
  • tackling climate change 

Our role in the West Midlands has never been more important and in these extraordinary times we’ve shown we can step forward, speak up for our region and bring people together. Everything we do is focused on making life better for people in the West Midlands – that’s our reason for being here and it drives every move we make. We lead and support others to deliver our shared future vision for the region – a happier, healthier, better connected place to live and work.

We fully believe that we are only as great as the people who work for us and are committed to providing a positive, healthy and inclusive working environment where our people feel valued and respected. We’re ambitious, forward thinking and determined to find better ways of working, always leading the way in what we do. We trust and support each other to get the job done, and encourage creativity, originality and curiosity from those who work with us.

We’re committed to creating an accessible and diverse workplace, one that nurtures an inclusive environment where our people can be themselves. We are a “Leaders in Diversity” accredited organisation, are in the Inclusive Top 50 Employers List and are one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women. 

If your values align with ours and you’re committed to working towards creating a future we can all be proud of, we want to hear from you.

Company info
Website
Telephone
0121 200 2787
Location
16 Summer Lane
Birmingham
West Midlands
B19 3SD
United Kingdom

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