29 July 2005
ITM Power Plc
('ITM' or 'the Company')
ITM POWER PLC GAINS NEW DEVELOPMENT GRANT IN YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER REGION
ITM Power Plc (ITM) and Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency
responsible for sustainable economic and regeneration of Yorkshire and Humber
area, have agreed the terms of an £800,000 development grant to encourage ITM
to expand its laboratory and workshop space in Sheffield. ITM has just
completed a DTI joint development programme carried out in Sheffield, and this
new grant will assist with, amongst other things, an increase in the ITM R&D
laboratory and workshop space to 10,000 sq.ft located on the Sheffield Airport
Business Park.
This grant agreement follows discussions and negotiations under the South
Yorkshire Inward Investment Programme (SYIIP), which is supported by EC
Objective 1, that aims to attract new investment into Yorkshire and the Humber
region.
Sheffield intends to become a major centre for research and development in
energy technologies, as plans are underway to create a multi-million pound
Energy Technology Incubator on part of Sheffield Airport Business Park site.
The Incubator will provide space for 40 energy technology businesses in what is
believed to be Europe's first 'Hydrogen Island'. LIFE-IC is the Sheffield
Technology Park based energy technology transfer and financing specialist
behind the project.
ITM's Finance Director John Wreford said: 'We are very pleased with the support
we have received from our partnership with Yorkshire Forward and the Yorkshire
and Humber Region. We have been active supporters of the concept of the
Region's LIFE-IC Future Energy Park cluster for some time, and we were one of
the first companies to sign up to the LIFE-IC project. We now have a highly
skilled team of scientists in Sheffield and we are actively recruiting
additional science students with good university degrees to be trained in our
laboratories at the Business Park.'
SYIIP European Funding Manager Julia Paddison said: 'This is an important
agreement for the Region. ITM was the first 'pure play' fuel cell company in
Europe to obtain a public listing last year, and it is now a FTSE AIM 100
stock. It paved the way for other future energy technology companies to raise
capital through the AIM market. I hope other UK future energy companies will
join with ITM and other existing members of the LIFE-IC cluster to help create
in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region the first EC centre of excellence for
future energy technology development. We believe that ITM will be an
increasingly important company both for the Region and for the UK generally,
and we are very pleased to have been in a position to offer this support'.
Ends
For further information please contact:
John Wreford, Finance Director Gemma Chandler/ Richard Swindells/
ITM Power plc Simon Hudson Katherine Roe
Tel: 01780 740574 Tavistock Communication Panmure Gordon & Co
Tel: 020 7920 3150 Tel: 020 7459 3600