CREWE companies are being urged to bid for funding from a €1million Euro pot aimed at nurturing innovation.

The Zero Defects Manufacturing Platform (ZDMP) project is available to help small to medium-sized software developers, tech companies and manufacturers as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 program, which includes the UK.

Supporting the call for bids locally is Crewe-based tech company Information Catalyst (ICE) which helps firms improve their business activities through research, innovation and custom software development.

CEO Stuart Campbell and his 30-strong team of scientists and software engineers support a global market with system design and smart manufacturing solutions.

He said: "ICE is working with the South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry to encourage manufacturers, software developers and hardware development companies to bid for grant funding through ZDMP.

"Times are tough but as a locally-based company I hope the availability of these grants can both help fellow SMEs of South Cheshire out in terms of their activity and also encourage them to improve the quality of their products and processes to make manufacturers and developers even more efficient and robust for the future."

Mr Campbell, who founded ICE 10 years ago, manages the project on behalf of a consortium of 30 partners including Ford, Continental, and the Universities of Southampton and Valencia.

He added: "ZDMP is aimed at European SME software developers, tech companies and manufacturers to create, test, validate and/or integrate innovative zero-defect solutions.

"The main objectives are to ensure excellence and quality of the product by advanced modelling, detection, inspection and predictive techniques. It views the quality of process through equipment, resource and energy efficiency.

"People may think this only applies to the classical manufacturing sectors such as automotive and electronics yet it includes any sector such as construction. A building site is the ultimate factory and zero defects are important for stable buildings.

"SMEs are the target of ZDMP, they are the backbone of any economy and by encouraging them in all aspects, such as zero defects and the production of innovative technology, it can help them grow, employ more people and contribute financial and social benefits to the economy in a virtuous circle."

South Cheshire Chamber Chief Executive Paul Colman said: "The ZDMP project, sponsored by the European Union's H2020 programme, aims to create a platform, components, and marketplace to achieve manufacturing zero-defects. The benefits focus on product and production quality assurance.

"On March 3 an open call was launched to companies to bid for funding to develop, integrate, and validate zero-defect technology awarding around 1M€ through around ten 50-150K€ Sub-Projects.

"South Cheshire has a long history of innovation and manufacturing and the Chamber is keen to see our local manufacturing companies benefit from this funding."

Applications for the first call close on April 30. A webinar session takes place on April 7 to explain the process further.

Further information is available here.