The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown and the Secretary of State for Industry Stephen Byers are to visit Coventry University’s TechnoCentre on Friday, 5 February.

The TechnoCentre is hosting the Chancellor’s ‘Productivity Challenge’ roadshow examining Britain’s productivity gap with its main competitors and how this can be addressed and overcome. While at the University he will also tour the TechnoCentre and spend time meeting University staff and enterprising graduates.

The Chancellor will arrive at the TechnoCentre at 3 pm. He will be given a tour of the facility and then attend an exhibition staged by the University’s School of Engineering featuring projects being undertaken by the School.

The Chancellor will then receive a presentation on Coventry University’s innovative Graduate Enterprise Scheme, followed by a tour of companies set up under the Scheme. He will then present two awards to Coventry University graduates who have established their own businesses under the Scheme. The award for ‘The most promising graduate entrepreneur’ will be made to Adrian Rye of Squid Software Ltd, and the award for ‘The company with the most export potential’ will be made to Nick Rutter and Sam Tate of Runner and Sprue.

At 4.30 pm the Chancellor will be joined by the Secretary of State for Industry Stephen Byers, as he makes his presentation to business people from across the West Midlands. The Chancellor and Secretary of State will leave the TechnoCentre at 6 pm.

John Latham, the University’s Business Development Manager based at the TechnoCentre was instrumental in arranging the visit. He comments: