DOWN TO BUSINESS

A round up of the latest local business and UK Israel Trade news.

experienced a distressing health scare during their pregnancy.

BICC Chief to Boost Israel Trade

New Executive Director of the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce North-West, Nigel Tobias aims to further aid the escalation of trade between the UK and Israel in recent years. He hopes to strengthen UK-Israel connections by bringing exceptional guest speakers to BICC events to foster communal closeness.

Nigel says: “Manchester has a vibrant business community, with a history of Zionism and intercommunal relationships. I want to widen that scope and bring businesspeople and businesses together.”

Global Hygiene and Health Company Moves

Swedish company, Essity, which has brands including Cushelle, Plenty, Bodyform, and TENA have moved 90 staff to the new Didsbury branch.

Regional Vice President UK & EMEA, Lee Doherty says: “We’ve been looking for a great space that facilitates easier collaboration between our teams, supports our sustainability goals, and embraces the more modern ways of working that we’ve introduced in recent years.

“We’re really pleased to have found all of that and more at Didsbury Towers and we look forward to welcoming our customers, agency partners and most importantly, our employees and colleagues to our new home.”

Previously operating from Manchester Airport and Salford Quays, Essity also has one of its six manufacturing sites at Trafford Park.

InnovateHer Awarded £50,000 Grant

The North-West social enterprise that aims to get more women ready for the tech industry and the tech industry ready for women, has just received a £50,000 grant as part of Innovate UK’s Future Flight Fund. InnovateHer will use the funds to engage with teens aged 13 to 17 across the UK through its e-learning platform allowing them to access its cybersecurity learning programme. The programme is a six-to-eightweek interactive course which will inspire and intrigue young people to consider careers in the sector and align with Future Flight’s emerging demand. The students receive information from their virtual tutors throughout the course which will have them tackling simulated challenges to make them feel like they are solving real-world cyber problems.

Chelsea Slater, Co-Founder of InnovateHer, said: “We are thrilled and honoured to have received the prestigious Future Flight Fund from Innovate UK, allowing us to introduce a transformative Cyber Pillar to our E-Learning platform. This support not only reaffirms our commitment to nurturing digital resilience, but also positions InnovateHer as a driving force in shaping the future of cybersecurity education.”

Giant Ice Trays to Cool Buildings

Air conditioning during summer months makes up for 40% of electricity usage in commercial buildings. As the need for air conditioning is constant in rising temperatures, energy grids are left unable to cope with the relentless wide-spread use of electricity.

Israeli green energy company Nostromo Energy’s solution is to use ice. The IceBrick is a thermal cell which stores water, turning it from a liquid into ice using electricity from times when the grid is cheaper and not in high demand (like at night when less electricals are used). The IceBrick is then thawed during hours of peak energy usage so air conditioning can be used without use of the grid.

Nostromo will soon begin installing the IceBrick in 120 American buildings, mostly in California, supported by a scheme by the US Department of Energy to support clean energy use.