Search results
What is research, design and development?
Stay ahead of competitors by carrying out quality research, design and development in your business
Managing the design process
Understand the steps you should take when trying to turn an idea into a product
Eliminating ideas that are not viable
Understanding when a product will not be viable is important to prevent wasting time and money
Exploring your ideas
How to innovate and develop your business ideas
Commercialisation options for your invention
Three straightforward ways of getting your invention to market: manufacture and sell yourself, license it or collaborate with another business
Science parks
Support and benefits of science parks, including technology transfer and business incubation
Support for protecting your ideas
Get professional help from intellectual property advisers, a patent attorney or a trade mark attorney to protect your intellectual property in an invention
Find manufacturers to build a prototype
Sources of information on product designers and manufacturers who can help you develop your invention
Support for product safety and testing
How to arrange product safety assessment, and where to find testing laboratories, services and product certification in the UK
Support for developing your ideas
Where to get help to develop new product ideas if you're looking to manufacture, market, sell or license your inventions
Avoid sales forecast pitfalls
The key things to avoid when drawing up a sales forecast including wishful thinking, not making it achievable and moving goalposts
Start a sales forecasts
How to use last year's sales as a starting point for your forecast of next year's sales to help manage your business more effectively.
Sales forecast assumptions
How to build expected changes in your business relating to factors such as your products and your market into a sales forecast.
Developing your sales forecast
How to improve the accuracy of your forecast by breaking down your sales figures into smaller categories such as by product, market, region or customer.
Create a sales plan from a sales forecast
Advice on how to achieve your sales objectives by creating a sales plan including your focus, the necessary changes, the steps involved and your target markets.
Understanding social value in public procurement
What social value is in public sector procurement, how you demonstrate it in a tender submission and what resources are available to assist your business.
Record-keeping best practice
Good record keeping habits and the "four S" approach: system, separate, security, storage.
Purchase ledger
What to record in a purchase ledger to keep track of how much money you owe.
Wages book
The value of maintaining a wages book and how to manage it if you employ staff.
Digital financial records
Reasons for keeping computer-based financial records and how to choose bookkeeping and accounting software packages.