Yordas Group, a company in Lancaster Environment Centre’s (LEC) co-working space for businesses, has won a King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.

Lancaster University offers a base for businesses to co-work together and grow, tap into talent, and access skills and resources. Yordas Group, a leading international provider of scientific consultancy services and digital solutions for the sustainable management of chemicals, has been based in LEC since 2007, when it was formed with strategic support from the university.

Dr Ruth Alcock, Lancaster University’s Head of Enterprise & Business Partnerships, Lancaster Environment Centre, said: “We are delighted that one of our co-working companies, Yordas Group, has won a King’s Award for Enterprise. This distinguished, well-deserved recognition is a testament to their open, engaging attitude to embracing research and innovation, and of the considerable growth of the business and its impact over the years. We look forward to further collaboration and wish them continued success.”

The King’s Awards for Enterprise are the United Kingdom’s highest official recognition for business excellence. Recipients are personally approved by His Majesty the King following rigorous evaluation and hold the honour for five years, earning worldwide respect as exemplars of UK industry.

Jonathan Lutwyche, CEO of Yordas Group, said: “Headquartered at Lancaster Environment Centre since its inception in 2007, Yordas proudly shares this success with the vibrant research, business, and educational communities of the region. Our close collaboration with Lancaster University, research institutions, and local businesses underscores our commitment to nurturing talent and driving innovation at home and abroad.”

Originally known as The REACH Centre, Yordas Group, which is headquartered in the UK with offices and representation around the world, has collaborated closely with Lancaster University from the start including helping deliver two projects to provide environmental expertise to more than 180 businesses across the North West.

The company has also played an active part in other innovative business engagement programmes developed by Lancaster University, including funding a PhD project as part of the £9.8M Centre for Global Eco-Innovation plus a £5.1M project to facilitate SMEs to develop collaborative R&D for new product development through business partnerships in China.

Both Lancaster University and The REACH Centre were recognised for their outstanding track record of working together with the award of Best Business Partner at the annual Prospects Postgraduate Awards 2014.

Yordas Group and Lancaster University recently created a new business-support hub to spearhead innovation for Lancashire businesses that produce or use chemicals, facilitating a multi-million-pound programme to assist Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Yordas Group is also a member of the Lancaster University Chemistry Industrial Advisory Board and have also regularly contributed to academic courses to teach both Lancaster students and industry about industry regulations including a Lancaster University accredited continuing professional development course for people working in chemical-using industries.

The company also offers regular opportunities for industrial projects for postgraduate students and many of their staff while around a third of U.K. based staff are Lancaster University graduates, often recruited following placements. Several students with PhDs and MScs in Environmental Science and Computer Science have been recruited, some of whom have achieved director and other senior positions within the organisation.

As well as collaborations in science, Yordas Group have also benefited from leadership programmes run by Lancaster University Management School, which helped to re-define and restructure the business, and provided projects for groups of Lancaster MBA students which helped solve problems and improve services.

For more information about Yordas Group see www.yordasgroup.com

If your organisation has an idea or challenge you want to talk through or need help scope the project for, or want to find out more about our other collaborative activities and co-working space, please contact: connect-business@lancaster.ac.uk

www.lancaster.ac.uk/business