BAE Systems and Lancaster University have jointly launched an Innovation in Manufacturing and Engineering (IME) programme, which will “focus targeted support” for the region’s small and medium-size companies in the advanced engineering and manufacturing sectors.

The IME programme has received £150,000 from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills through the UK Futures Programme.

Dave Holmes, manufacturing operations director for BAE Systems Military Air & Information, said: “As a business, we recognise that we do not have a monopoly on good ideas, and if there are collaborative ways we can work with our supply chain to develop new ways of working, we want to take them. We hope this programme will enable us to support our supply chain further, to ensure that we are all playing a part in being as efficient and effective as possible.”

Those taking part in the IME programme will boost their management and leadership skills as well as their “strategic thinking” through “inspirational master-classes, workshops, innovation challenges and action learning groups”, building on the legacy of Lancaster University Management School’s former leadership and management programme, LEAD.

The programme will also “utilise the established track-record of the university’s Engineering Department in supporting advanced manufacturing SMEs across the North West and beyond through collaborative research, development and innovation programmes.”

There will also be opportunities to engage with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield.

The IME programme will start in early November with an initial 24 business owners and managers. More information is available by visiting the Web site (www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/ime).