New business ventures in Kingston look set to benefit from £3million of Government funding secured by Kingston University.

The university made two successful bids for the money, awarded by the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), to stimulate new business ventures.

The university's first HEIF application was a Kingston only bid for £440,000 to further develop its Enterprise Exchange activities.

The activities programme, which involves work-based learning, has been developed over the past seven years by a number of Kingston academics, to build the university's reputation for business support.

The second bid was a collaborative bid called WestFocus, an enterprise support service for the region, with six other higher education institutions, for £10.6million.

Kingston University's director of enterprise Dr David Stores was a key figure in developing the winning WestFocus bid.

Kingston University also received funding to lead one of 22 centres of knowledge exchange activity across Britain.

HEIF is likely to provide a permanent third stream of funding for universities, alongside teaching and research.

Marguerite Lipscomb, co-author of the bids, said: "We knew we had a good chance of being awarded the money if we were able to encapsulate on paper the range of high-impact projects we had developed and implemented during the past few years."

Andrew Self, pro-vice chancellor for enterprise at Kingston University, said: "The UK produces plenty of inventors but they don't possess the business know-how to turn incredible ideas into credible products.

"According to Department of Trade and Industry reports, companies that have worked with Kingston University report an average increase in turnover of more than 40 per cent. With this funding, we can expand our support so many more businesses locally can reap those benefits."

With more than 17,000 students, Kingston University is the largest provider of higher education in south west London.

rclifford@london.newsquest.co.uk