Advent Communications has helped a business support fund become such a success that it began to wind down six months ahead of schedule.

Following the first month of PR activity conducted by Advent for the Advantage Proof of Concept Fund, applications to the scheme doubled across the West Midlands region.

The fund set out to award over £5.8 million in grant support by March 2010 to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in the region develop innovative new products and ideas. But it proved such a hit organisers began to wind down the project in October.

The scheme provided grants of up to 75 per cent of a project’s cost – up to a maximum of £30,000 – and was run in collaboration between the University of Warwick Science Park, Connect Midlands, the University of Wolverhampton, Malvern Hills Science Park, the Central Technology Belt and the Staffordshire and Black Country Business Innovation Centre.

Tom Blount, manager of the Advantage Proof of Concept Fund, said: “We needed to ensure that a wide range of companies from all corners of the West Midlands were able to access the Fund.

“Advent’s superb network of contacts and relationships with business editors really helped to drive enquiries to the Fund and strongly contributed to our success.”

Picture: An APOC success story – Tony Hume, engineering director for Creactive Design, with Tom Blount, from the Advantage Proof of Concept Fund.