Growing your business

At Nottingham Trent University, we offer a range of support to established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are looking to grow their business to the next level.

Through our broad range of support, businesses can access advanced facilities, graduate talent, academic expertise and funding.

Contact our business advisors to hear more about the broad range of support we offer small and medium-sized businesses.

Employing staff
Deciding to hire new staff can feel daunting. We're here to help you get it right.
We offer:
All the above services are available to eligible SMEs in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire area.
We can also help you with leadership and workforce development.
Staff development
Whether you are looking to develop yourself as a leader or develop your staff, we have a range of funded programmes for eligible SMEs, including:
- Innovation Management and Leadership: For business owners and senior staff looking for mentoring way to develop business processes through the ESF High Level Skills programme.
- Dedicated business development events
- Professional development courses and apprenticeships
Find out more about leadership and workforce development for SMEs.
Developing new products and services
We can help you develop products and ways of working that will boost your profitability, efficiency and innovation.
We do this through a combination of:
- our advanced technology and technical facilities
- access to funding and grants
- our student, graduate and academic expertise
See Developing new products and services for more details.
Workshops and events
We hold workshops and networking events specifically for SMEs who are looking to innovate, explore new ideas and grow. They cover a range of topics, including:
- financial health
- marketing
- legal advice
- e-commerce
- digital and creative sector support
- product development and design
- process innovation
We also hold events for specific business sectors.

Many of our events are funded by the European Regional Development fund and are free to attend for eligible SMEs in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
See our programme of events for more details.
Specialist facilities
We offer access to a range of facilities, including:
- specialist research facilities
- The Hive: support for entrepreneurs
- access to disruptive technology and expert advice
- Food Authenticity Research and Services (FARAS)
- state-of-the art equipment including laser cutters, CNC machines, 3D printers and 3D scanner
- specialist science labs
In partnership with the University of Nottingham, we also support life-science businesses:
- BioCity: Providing homes and access to high-end equipment, shared services, training and support
- MediCity: Supporting innovators in healthcare, medical technology, diagnostics and beauty products
Developing international markets
Working with partners such as the Department for International Trade (DIT), we are able to offer SMEs support to expand into international trade and advise on key areas around exporting such as:
- how to choose the right market
- finding partner organisations that can help
- opportunities and challenges for businesses
We also hold workshops for eligible SMEs on exporting and international trade, delivered in partnership with organisations such as the Department for International Trade.

Photo by Ellen Tobin

Working with creative and digital SMEs

Supported by the European Regional Development Fund, The Big House programme provides free support to grow Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire-based creative and digital businesses.

Clients can access the services above, as well as workshops, mentoring sessions and talent grants tailored specifically to their industry.

Find out more

Find out more on how businesses have benefited from our dedicated SME support

Improving Productivity

Productivity Through Innovation (PTI) allows businesses to access a broad range funding, services and support activities to improve their productivity and their market competitiveness.

SMEs will be able to work with academic experts and access industry standard facilities across all three of our university campuses. Grant funding is also available for 20% of a graduate’s salary for up to 12 months, to work on a specific productivity-based project.

Find out more

Helping businesses to scale-up fast

If your small or medium business is growing fast and you are ready to scale up to the next level, then we can support your growth through a range of academic and business support services.

Find out more about our service to help business scale-up.