With the support of East Sussex County Council and funding from the UK Community Renewal Fund, each have been purpose-built to respond to the needs of more than 700 local SMEs at different stages of their journey.

The are five different streams which will offer free resources and expert innovation consultancy to micro-businesses, start-ups and scale-ups from across the county:

Innovation Hit Squad
Find your next challenge, discover how to scale it

An exclusive consultancy programme for five high-growth businesses. Over five days of intensive sessions alongside your teams, hand-picked innovation specialists will offer a comprehensive health check and highlight new opportunities for innovation and growth. Address your biggest organisational challenges, incubate new ideas, and design, prototype and launch new products to help you scale.

An Innovation Hit Squad could be perfect for you if:

• You are an established business with more than 50 employees, and want to explore ways to start doing things differently

• You’re open to new perspectives and innovative ways of working, and have an appetite to develop new products and services

• You’re looking for your roadmap to respond to external challenges including Brexit, the pandemic and Net Zero carbon.

Innovation Masterclass
Uncover the insights to inspire your business

The Innovation Masterclass is a series of facilitated peer group sessions designed to inspire SME owners who want to think bigger and create new opportunities for their business. You’ll be challenged with ideas to develop and implement new ways of working, and offered expert advice and mentoring to help you find the most effective route forward for your company.

Join the Innovation Masterclass if:
• You are an established SME planning to develop a disruptive product or pivot to a new business model

• You’re tired of doing the same thing as everyone else and want to find a way to differentiate

• You want support from specialist mentors who’ll take the time to understand your industry and give you tailored advice.

Productivity Masterclass
A trusted partner to help you achieve more
The Productivity Masterclass is a series of facilitated peer group sessions designed to help successful founders manage rapid periods of growth. You’ll be armed with strategies to develop and implement new ways of working, and leave equipped with leadership tools to cope with the stress and uncertainty of organisational change and handle the challenges that come with scaling up.

Join the Productivity Masterclass if:

• You’ve recently received significant investment or grant funding to take on new staff and grow the business

• You’re struggling with delegating responsibility and oversight after growing your business from start-up

• You’re embedding new systems and processes, or undergoing digital transformation.

Lean Innovation Series
Everything you need to make your ideas happen
The Lean Innovation Series offers a full course of digital training resources for busy innovators. Whether you’re a founder who’s just launched their start-up, a budding entrepreneur wanting to test and develop a new idea, or simply want to build core innovation skills to apply within your company, it offers a simple first step - supplemented with practical exercises, an online peer collaboration forum with hundreds of other founders, and two hours of face-to-face mentoring with Sussex Innovation’s expert business advisors.

Try the Lean Innovation Series if:

• You’re looking for an accessible toolkit to coach yourself in the fundamentals of innovation in your own time and at your own pace

• You want to find a community of innovators to support each other with motivation and accountability.

Investment Bootcamp
Helping you secure your first raise, from plan to pitch
The Investment Bootcamp is a series of facilitated peer group sessions designed to help start-up founders prepare for their first raise. You’ll be shown how to develop an investment-ready business plan and pitch, attend Q&A sessions with the investor community, and have the chance to be selected for a live pitching event for seed capital.

Sign up for the Investment Bootcamp if:

• You need seed or angel investment to grow your business, but have never pitched in front of investors before

• You’ve got a successful start-up led by talented people, and need help to communicate what makes it stand out

• You want an impartial expert to review your materials, from business plan to pitch deck.

Visit sussexinnovation.co.uk/training-programmes for more information and to register your interest in any of these programmes.