A new project aimed at boosting Worcestershire’s environmental technologies has been launched with support from the Rural Regeneration Zone (RRZ).

Called the Marches Environmental Technologies Collaboration and Innovation Network – or MetNet – it is being headed by project manager Patricia Head and project officer Jane Yardley, who will be working with companies, business support organisations, universities and funding providers to help drive the sector forward.

A number of RRZ-funded projects have already been set up in the Marches area and the network will aim to make sure businesses are making the most of the opportunities.

Richard Heathcote, Rural Regeneration Zone board member and sustainable development manager at Bulmers, Heineken UK, said: “Worcestershire and the Marches have an established and recognised excellence in terms of environmental technologies and sustainability with hundreds of successful companies in this sector.

“There are also a number of projects to support businesses and communities in adopting sustainable technologies.

“What we clearly need, however, is to find a way to co-ordinate this activity and strengthen it in rural Worcestershire, which is where the MetNet comes in.

“Now we have the team in post, we will be better placed to establish just how many environmental technologies companies we have in the Marches, signpost them to the right support to help them grow and, importantly, get them to work more closely together.

“Environmental technologies are a crucial part of the economy in the Marches.

“This investment will help to strengthen what will, in years to come, be an increasingly vital and lucrative industry in which the Rural Regeneration Zone can be a leading player.”

Picture (l-r): TEAM PLAYERS: Patricia Head, left, and Jane Yardley, of MetNet

In the News: 
Shropshire Star, 23-03-2010
Tewkesbury Admag, 08-04-2010