Software Alliance Wales, Business

Software Alliance Wales

Software Alliance Wales is a £13m collaborative ICT project between the universities of Glamorgan, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Swansea and Trinity Saint David. The project is funded by the EU’s Convergence European Social Fund, through the Welsh Assembly Government.

The overall objective of the Software Alliance Wales project is to support innovation and growth in the ICT and software sector in Wales. The project has four main strands to facilitate this:

1. CPD Training for ICT Professionals – Continuous Professional Development is vital in an industry as dynamic as ICT. Creative and technical staff need to understand the very latest developments in software, hardware, platforms and applications to keep their company at the forefront and remain competitive. The Software Alliance Wales project operates a demand led approach to CPD – we actively encourage practitioners to let us know where they feel their skills gaps are.

2. ICT Company Certification Scheme – The Accredit UK scheme is a unique demonstration of your commitment as an ICT supplier to excellence. It is recognition of not only your technical expertise but also the professional manner in which your business is run. The Certification Scheme has been devised by SMEs for SMEs in the ICT sector and is intended to complement ISO standards.

3. Student Development ICT projects – We are committed to producing “work-ready” computing graduates. To do this we need to expose our computing students to real life experiences with companies. Our final year students work with businesses to investigate, design and implement a prototype solution which may have proved impossible with current company resources. The only cost to the business is time to liaise with the student.

4. Business ICT Workshops – These monthly workshops provide a general insight into the latest concepts and developments in ICT, for SMEs. Topics are varied and range from developing smartphone applications and social media to search engine optimisation and e-crime.

Match-funding is available for companies and individuals located in the Convergence area.

For more information on any aspect of the Software Alliance Wales project please contact Business Liaison Officer Jaime Hindle via email or call 01443 483277.