UTES

Established in October 2000 with the help of the NWDA, it aims to improve the competitiveness of the sector by helping businesses to identify and win new contracts, by acting as a forum for the exchange of advanced practice and by encouraging partnership formation to address new market opportunities. Its focus is on issues such as waste management, recycling and re-use, climate change, land remediation and, most importantly, cleaner processes and products.

The catalyst for the formation of the company was the NWDA's innovative approach to developing its first Regional Economic Strategy (RES) in 1999 when, as part of this process, it asked representatives from key industries to consult and to come back with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for their sector. At the end of this process the NWDA included Environmental Technologies and Services (ETS) in the RES as a sector with growth potential. The four people actively involved in the consultation process decided that more should be done to help the sector achieve it full potential. In January 2000 they registered Envirolink Northwest Limited as a not for profit company limited by guarantee and became its first Board of Directors.

Vision is to make the Northwest of England's energy and environmental technologies & services sector a world leader in turning new ideas and emerging technologies into profitable businesses in the high growth markets for environmental solutions.

Key areas of activity focus on:

• Innovation and knowledge technology transfer
• Workforce development
• Raising the profile of the regions energy and environmental technologies & services sector – in regional, national and global markets.

Fulfilling this vision will create jobs and wealth while protecting and enhancing the environment more cost-effectively than can be achieved through conventional methods.