Regionally Unleashed!
Wednesday 12th July saw Cardiff Capital Region’s City Deal team and PwC come together in Bargoed to present a series of funding opportunities to businesses based mainly in the Heads of the Valleys.
The event took the form of a lively breakfast presentation and saw senior members of CCR’s team and PwC make presentations to nearly 70 business people on funds that include the Strategic Premises Fund and the Innovation Investment Capital.
This event, called Regionally Unleashed, emphasises the role of innovation as a growth factor which is of particular interest to the SMEs in the Cardiff Capital Region, which make up the bulk of the commercial hinterland in Southeast Wales.
Martin Boughtwood, the Founder of high-tech company Deregallera spoke to the assembled audience about his journey and vision for the future of clean energy. This is focused around electric vehicle drive and energy storage technologies – he told the audience about how he has used funding routes to progress this vision.
The next Regionally Unleashed event is scheduled to take place in Bridgend in the late autumn. More details to follow.
A Valley Case Study in being Investor-Ready
The Bargoed Unleash breakfast will include an inspirational presentation from Martin Boughtwood, founder of Caerphilly-based Deregallera – a clean energy visionary with over three decades of experience in the field; and a passionate advocate of using energy technology in the most sustainable and non-toxic way.
His company, Deregallera, is a leading-edge R&D enterprise that focuses on environmentally considerate improvements in electric vehicle drive and energy storage technologies – receiving in excess of £10M funding from UK and Welsh governments in the past few years, as well as winning highly competitive grants from Innovate UK.
Martin is keen to show how his journey can help others:
“As someone who grew up and completed an apprenticeship in Cwmbran, before leaving Wales to pursue my ambitions, it’s great to see an event like Unleash being organised for local entrepreneurs who want to take their businesses to the next level - and stay here in the region” says Martin.
Walking the talk for innovation
As an inventor with over 20 patents filed in the last five years, Martin walks the talk for innovation in our region – applying his thinking through the experience and expertise built up over 40 years in electronics, mechanical engineering, power management systems and company leadership.
As Martin explains:
“If the last few decades have taught me anything, it’s that building business success is a continual work in progress. Yes, I’ve focused on innovation in sustainable non-toxic solutions that leverage material property enhancements, and that’s enabled Delegallera to improve energy efficiency for a host of applications - leading to our most recent pioneering breakthrough, the development of a unique electric car.
But tomorrow’s another day - and that is where investors are ultimately looking: to involve themselves and support enterprises who are proving themselves today and have a vision for tomorrow.
It’s important we share our experiences and lessons learnt, if we’re going to build a resilient and sustainable economy in our part of Wales. I know from my own journey that we can take the lead and compete on the world stage - and I’m looking forward to sharing some of those insights on Wednesday 12th in Bargoed.”
