00:00An award-winning sports and sustainability company, a new wound research centre, and
00:04a Birmingham company supporting NASA's return to the moon, featuring today's business briefing.
00:14Well, good morning, Dan.
00:15Good morning.
00:15What's caught your eye today?
00:16It's quite an interesting space story, actually.
00:19A start-up based in Birmingham has been chosen to take part in NASA's first crude return
00:23to the moon in more than 50 years.
00:26I did a bit of research, and the last crude moon landing mission, Apollo 17, took place
00:31back in December 1972, which was longer than I thought.
00:35And now Steamjet Space Systems is providing the propulsion unit for the CubeSat mission,
00:40which is part of the second mission in NASA's Artemis program, and the first to carry astronauts.
00:45And that's scheduled for launch in April 2026.
00:48So Marco Pavan, the chief executive of Steamjet, described it as a major milestone for the business.
00:53And I do agree, you know, for a start-up to be involved in such a major sort of mission,
00:57it really is a big deal for them.
00:58Yeah, huge, huge project for them.
01:00I understand you've got an interesting interview to talk about.
01:02Yeah, well, yeah, more interesting, innovative companies.
01:05Yeah, so the founder of a sports and sustainability company that recently won a King's Award for
01:11enterprises focusing to Insider.
01:13Innovation Consulting was founded in 2018 by Dr. Christiane Apache, following completion of her PhD,
01:19focused on investigating and implementing a more data-driven approach to sustainability in motorsport.
01:25So Apache previously worked as a scrutineer for European Formula 3000,
01:30before going on to start her Masters at Cranfield University.
01:32During her studies, she became a freelance engineer in GT racing,
01:38before going on to work as an engineer in Formula 1 itself.
01:41She went on to work for Williams F1 and also FAI Formula E, before going on to pursue the PhD
01:48in Sustainability and Strategic Management at Coventry University.
01:53After that, she established innovation with early clients, including F1 teams,
01:58manufacturers and motorsport federations.
02:00But the company has since broadened out and now works across a range of sports,
02:03so that includes football, tennis, sailing athletics.
02:07And she's spoken to Insider about the award win, as well as from her journey
02:12from being an engineer to chief executive.
02:14So a really interesting piece.
02:15It's a really interesting business and also a really interesting story behind it,
02:19you know, sort of how it started.
02:20Yeah, I really like speaking to those sorts of businesses.
02:23Yeah, we've done a lot of King's Award winners as well, so I'm sure it's a really good one.
02:26And while sort of sticking with sport, a sportswear retailer is set to open a flagship
02:31store in Bournemouth Town Centre. So the new Sport It First store, we're located in the former
02:35WH Smith building on Old Christchurch Road and will officially open within the next four to six
02:41weeks following a full refurbishment. So Sport It First specialises in branded clothing, footwear,
02:47sportswear, and they offer a wide variety of products from all the major sports brands,
02:50you know, New Balance, Adidas, Nike. It's a family-run firm and they recently celebrated
02:5540 years in business and they already operate stores in Poole and Salisbury.
02:59And this latest investment is said to create, you know, a lot of job opportunities in Bournemouth,
03:04so definitely good news there.
03:06Yeah, good expansion story. Well, last thing today, plans have been unveiled to establish
03:10a £48 million translational wound research centre in East Yorkshire. The University of Hull
03:15has been awarded £60 million from the UK Research Investment Partnership Fund and the centre will be
03:22match funded by industry partners including Polaroid Diabetics and Rekin. Research carried out at the
03:28centre. It is hoped will transform the quality of life for various people impacted by chronic wounds.
03:35The centre will be located on the University of Hull's campus and will be complemented by the
03:40ongoing refurbishment work at the city's Castle Hill Hospital.
03:44Now, the NHS currently spends about £8.3 billion on wound care and the new centre will bring together
03:50academics, researchers and industry partners to increase understanding of wound treatment and
03:57hopefully develop new approaches to the treatment of chronic wounds. It also will act as a national
04:02hub for skin and wound research, a really significant investment going on in the city of Hull.
04:06Good to see investment in such an important area as well. Well, that's probably all we have time for
04:10today but to read more about these stories please visit www.insidermedia.com where you can also
04:14subscribe to our magazine and find out about upcoming events. Thank you for watching.
