Laura Cole - Project Manager
Laura moved on to support businesses at Innovation Birmingham whilst managing their Serendip Smart City Incubator for SMEs. There she worked with corporate partners including the NHS, Wayra and London Midland to facilitate their corporate strategy of supporting SMEs.
Laura also has experience in the private sector. For 2.5 years she worked at Codemasters’ Birmingham Studio as an Office Manager working directly under the Vice President. There she managed internal studio projects, as well as worked on production aspects of the F1 game franchise.
Laura is committed to expanding her knowledge of ways to support business and completed a Graduate Diploma in Law in 2019 at The University of Law. The diploma gave Laura an understanding of a wide variety of legal concepts including, Contract Law, EU Law, and Equity & Trusts.
Laura Cole has worked in business support for over eight years after completing a master’s degree (with merit) at The University of Wolverhampton.
Laura began her career in business support at Creative England in their Video Games and Digital Media team. She worked on a variety of publicly funded business support projects, including both Regional Growth Fund (RGF) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) projects. Partners on those business support projects included Microsoft, Sony, and Barclays.
Laura played a central role in implementing and managing the delivery of Creative England’s games and digital investment offer and was involved in the awarding of contracts resulting in investment of over £1m to SMEs.
Laura is now using her business support knowledge as Project Manager of the Innovation Vouchers programme. The Innovation Vouchers programme is a flagship ERDF programme based at Aston University in Birmingham. Laura has successfully managed the project to overperform output goals. Innovation Vouchers so far has supported over 85 businesses to receive both grant and non-financial support and provided over £145k in grant support to over 60 SMEs since 2019.
Contact Laura now to see how the Innovation Vouchers programme can support your business on:
Tel: 0121 204 316 / Email: l.cole@aston.ac.uk
Alexander Lamle - Project Coordinator
The experience gave Alex a wealth of knowledge of the West Midlands business ecosystem, including the business support opportunities available both locally and internationally.
Alex is committed to expanding his knowledge of business governance and completed a Get on the Board qualification in 2020. The course gave Alex an understanding of corporate governance, its framework, principles, and role within a business.
Alex is now using his business support experience as a Project Coordinator on the Innovation Vouchers programme. Innovation Vouchers is a flagship European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme based at Aston University in Birmingham. Alex has aided a large variety of local SMEs to receive business support, including grants and non-financial support.
Alex Lamle has worked in business support for over three years, after moving on from a career in telecommunications in the private sector. After graduating from the University of Hull with a first degree, Alex has spent his career supporting others in a wide variety of roles; from teaching children in deprived communities in Bolivia as a UK Volunteer in the International Citizen Service to a Research & Exhibition Volunteer at Leeds Art Museum.
Alex’s work at the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce saw him work in both the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE).
The support Alex has provided has helped SMEs to launch new products and services, as well as change their internal processes to promote business growth.
Alex has experience working with business of varying sizes and from numerous sectors to find the ways to best support their business, promote innovation and grow.
Contact Alex now to see how the Innovation Vouchers programme can support your business on:
Tel: 0121 204 3195 / Email: a.lamle@aston.ac.uk
