Science and technology consultancy, AEON Engineering Ltd, deliver project development, product management and systems engineering services across scientific, R&D and aerospace sectors. The Keele Research and Innovation Programme (KRISP)* helped provide a dedicated research resource as the company looks to expand into new markets.

KRISP has been designed to support businesses that are thinking about, or are currently in the process of developing a new product process or service, in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, providing business advisors, dedicated academic and graduates or students working within the company as research, development and innovation (RD&I) advisors for up to 100 hours.

AEON’s Development Engineer, Brendan Harrowing, said: “KRISP has been the resource we were after for the project we had in mind. The two RD&I associates looked at different aspects of the project; a physics student who researched maser technology and systems while the other student looked at research from a business and marketing point of view, looking at distribution and target audience. Both helped to highlight the most effective paths moving forward for our new product.”

Commercial Director, Kimberley Walley, commented: “KRISP provided a focused resource for a fixed amount of time. We had talented, hard-working students whose research has been beneficial in the development stages of our new products.”

AEON continues to see rapid growth as they expand their market reach with the employment of three new staff this year, there are a further three new job roles of Assistant Project Engineer, Junior Engineer and Administration Assistant currently available. Further information on these positions and the company can be viewed here.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent businesses can benefit from a range of specialist support and funding, more details of which are available through Keele University’s Business Gateway - 01782 733001 / business.gateway@keele.ac.uk.

*The KRISP project (ref: 32R16P00711) is part-funded from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds England Growth Programme 2014-2020.