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Materials R and D company expands in Europe
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Smithers Rapra product story
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team
Dec 2, 2005
Encouraged by the recent successes it has enjoyed in the European collaborative research arena, Rapra Technology is now actively seeking to develop and expand its regional support activities.
Rapra leads European development Encouraged by the recent spectacular successes which the company has enjoyed in the European collaborative research arena, Rapra Technology is now actively seeking further opportunities to develop and expand its regional support activities into mainland Europe.
Rapra has already enjoyed some success with an agreement having been signed with the Spanish region of La Rioja, for Rapra to provide supported technical consultancy services to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the region.
The company is already working with 2 such organisations and anticipates more work in 2006, particularly since participating in the regional conference and exhibition event which took place in November.
Rapra's Regional Projects sales manager Martin Woodley says that: "The start that we are already making here is very encouraging, particularly as we have also identified and started to work with a local partner organisation here too." Elsewhere in Spain, discussions are taking place between Rapra and Aimplas, a plastics-based technical centre located close to Valencia.
Aimplas have developed a "Technology Observatory" website which offers a news alerting service based on material gleaned from over 300 international websites.
Rapra and Aimplas are in advanced discussions regarding the inclusion of material from Rapra's online polymer library within this system.
The two companies are also looking into working together to assist Aimplas in developing a regional SME support programme of technical services for SMEs in the region.
Richard Walton, Rapra's Marketing Services manager is enthusiastic about expanding the working partnership with Aimplas.
"We have worked together really well in developing large European research projects over the last 2 years and I expect our collaborative activities to grow further in the next couple of years." Walton has also spent 10 days in Poland last month, his third visit to the country in 2005.
"We are making good headway now, with the likelihood of a Training project going forward in the Lower Silesia region early next year and also with a Memorandum of Understanding being prepared between ourselves and a local partner organisation.
We have again been able to build on established relationships with organisations in the research field in Poland." Walton expects to be in Poland again in the New Year to finalise these opportunities and to explore other emerging opportunities, possibly driven by the close relationship which is developing between Lower Silesia and the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom.
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