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Home - PLAYGROUND - Arrow Innovation
Ready to innovate?

Supercharge Your Business

Growing a business in the North East of England brings a variety of challenges, but you don’t have to do it all alone.

Ready to innovate?

Unlock the power of four world-class universities

Connect your businesses to experts and facilities in the North East

Four universities, countless academics and researchers – and lab facilities that are second-to-none. With all this at our fingertips, we’ll help you access the expertise your business needs to move forward.

Ready to innovate?

Push the boundaries of what’s possible

We’re here to help you grow and develop your product or business by acting as your gateway to a wealth of expertise. 

Whether you’re looking for testing facilities, scientific insights or a research partner,  Arrow will help you access the bespoke support you need. Let’s unlock innovation and accelerate your pathway to success. 

Nothing is off the shelf, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Everything we do is tailored to your unique needs. 

Ready to innovate?

Our service is fully funded for businesses

We want to help as many businesses based in County Durham, Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland as possible to reach and exceed their potential, so don’t worry about cost.

We’re funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund which is a UK Government scheme that’s part of the Levelling Up agenda.

One-to-one time with experts

We’ll match you with an expert, or experts, from our universities and deploy an Arrow Innovation Associate to deliver a project tailored to your needs.

Innovation support

We’ll help you to bring new products and services towards their market by sharing insights and knowledge from experts in our universities.

Research and development

Research is key to our universities’ strengths, and we can help you address unknowns in your product or service innovation journey by drawing on our expertise.

Proof of concept and validation

Our experts offer a complementary and evidenced view on your product or service innovation – validating your thinking or challenging your assumptions and proposing alternatives.

Specialist data science expertise

Data exploitation pervades so much of current innovation opportunities, and we can match you with data science experts to identify solutions to your own data challenges.

Research facilities and equipment

Our universities have a trove of specialist equipment and facilities that may offer new insight to unlock innovation opportunities for your product or service.

Ready to innovate?
How does this work?
New products & services delivered * Forecast of new product/services by initial phase of Arrow - Independent Assessment, January 2023
New jobs created * Forecast of jobs created by initial phase of Arrow - Independent Assessment, January 2023
Increased turnover by * Forecast of increased turnover by initial phase of Arrow - Independent Assessment, January 2023
Increased private investment by * Forecast of increased investment by initial phase of Arrow - Independent Assessment, January 2023

Get the real-world results you’ve been dreaming of

Greg Short

Director, Fyto

The Arrow project exceeded our expectations, providing in-depth and broad expertise in our areas of interest.
Read Success Story
Jurek Kozyra

Founder CEO of Nanovery

Working with Newcastle University helped us identify gaps in our team and has allowed us to employ more staff and fund PhD students. We have also cemented our relationship with the University's Centre for Cancer.
Read Success Story
Dylan McKee

Co-founder of Nebula Labs

The project went really well because NICD are obviously specialists at what they do and we are specialists at the technology that we work with. So, the two of us coming together was a really good combination and collaboration because we brought our skills from the app sector and they added their expertise in AI, data analysis and machine learning.
Read Success Story
Dylan McKee

Co-founder of Nebula Labs

The project went really well because NICD are obviously specialists at what they do and we are specialists at the technology that we work with. So, the two of us coming together was a really good combination and collaboration because we brought our skills from the app sector and they added their expertise in AI, data analysis and machine learning.
Read Success Story
Dylan McKee

Co-founder of Nebula Labs

The project went really well because NICD are obviously specialists at what they do and we are specialists at the technology that we work with. So, the two of us coming together was a really good combination and collaboration because we brought our skills from the app sector and they added their expertise in AI, data analysis and machine learning.
Read Success Story
James Harriman-Smith

Senior Lecturer and Public Orator, Newcastle University

I would encourage colleagues to do an Arrow project as it provides a pathway to interact with local businesses, and a new way of looking at their research.
Ryan Waite

Research Scientist, LightOx

Working with Arrow allowed us to research a topic we wouldn’t have been able to spare the resources for internally. The work was done very well and produced results worth following up on. We would recommend Arrow to others.
Glenda Devlin

Founder and MD, Your Health and Care Ltd

Thanks to Arrow, I was able to realise and better understand specific business and market opportunities.
Dik Barton

COO & Founder, Armatrex

There’s no way as a start up SME commercial entity that we’d be where we are now without the support of Arrow.
Julie Wilson

Co-founder, Settld

Arrow helped us develop our MPV which helped us win two Innovate UK Awards and seed funding. I would definitely recommend working with Arrow
Jo Yuill

Founder, Yu Cook

Arrow has helped us move forward through research into recycled materials, research into energy efficiency, and support to prototype our product. It’s been so, so helpful to move our business forward.
Greg Short

Director, Fyto

The Arrow project exceeded our expectations, providing in-depth and broad expertise in our areas of interest.
Read Success Story
Jurek Kozyra

Founder CEO of Nanovery

Working with Newcastle University helped us identify gaps in our team and has allowed us to employ more staff and fund PhD students. We have also cemented our relationship with the University's Centre for Cancer.
Read Success Story
Dylan McKee

Co-founder of Nebula Labs

The project went really well because NICD are obviously specialists at what they do and we are specialists at the technology that we work with. So, the two of us coming together was a really good combination and collaboration because we brought our skills from the app sector and they added their expertise in AI, data analysis and machine learning.
Read Success Story
Dylan McKee

Co-founder of Nebula Labs

The project went really well because NICD are obviously specialists at what they do and we are specialists at the technology that we work with. So, the two of us coming together was a really good combination and collaboration because we brought our skills from the app sector and they added their expertise in AI, data analysis and machine learning.
Read Success Story
Dylan McKee

Co-founder of Nebula Labs

The project went really well because NICD are obviously specialists at what they do and we are specialists at the technology that we work with. So, the two of us coming together was a really good combination and collaboration because we brought our skills from the app sector and they added their expertise in AI, data analysis and machine learning.
Read Success Story
James Harriman-Smith

Senior Lecturer and Public Orator, Newcastle University

I would encourage colleagues to do an Arrow project as it provides a pathway to interact with local businesses, and a new way of looking at their research.
Ryan Waite

Research Scientist, LightOx

Working with Arrow allowed us to research a topic we wouldn’t have been able to spare the resources for internally. The work was done very well and produced results worth following up on. We would recommend Arrow to others.
Glenda Devlin

Founder and MD, Your Health and Care Ltd

Thanks to Arrow, I was able to realise and better understand specific business and market opportunities.
Dik Barton

COO & Founder, Armatrex

There’s no way as a start up SME commercial entity that we’d be where we are now without the support of Arrow.
Julie Wilson

Co-founder, Settld

Arrow helped us develop our MPV which helped us win two Innovate UK Awards and seed funding. I would definitely recommend working with Arrow
Jo Yuill

Founder, Yu Cook

Arrow has helped us move forward through research into recycled materials, research into energy efficiency, and support to prototype our product. It’s been so, so helpful to move our business forward.
Ready to innovate?
See all success stories

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