Professional Services CSConnected Srength In Places Fund (SIPF)

Tender description

The CSconnected Strength in Places Fund project (‘CSconnected SIPF’) is seeking a Provider to deliver a range of professional services that will support the South Wales semiconductor community in its next stages of evolution and growth. Initial Funding is until 30 April 2025 and is circa GBP1.8m. Estimated value includes all contract options. Lot 1: The CSconnected Strength in Places Fund project (‘CSconnected SIPF’) is seeking a Provider to deliver a range of professional services that will support the South Wales semiconductor community in its next stages of evolution and growth. CSconnected SIPF is a large-scale project part-funded under the UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund (SIPF). The project consortium consists of 12 Partners across; Higher Education Institutions, Research Technology Organisations, Industry Partners and Civic Bodies. Key long-term objectives of the CSconnected SIPF investment are to encourage exploitation of compound semiconductor research and development, and innovation in technologies and know-how in South Wales, and to support high-quality, sustainable skills and job creation in South Wales to underpin regional economic growth. We are seeking to appoint an organisation to independently represent and develop the South Wales compound semiconductor community, professionally promoting the interests and capabilities of organisations within this community to UK and global audiences. This Services contract is intended to pump-prime an organisation to position itself as a self-sustaining entity to maintain ‘CSconnected’ beyond the end of the SIPF project. The end of this period is anticipated to be 30 April 2025. Core services required include extensive relationship management (coordinating activities and strategy, offering a “collective voice of the community”), a comprehensive marketing and communication function, alongside events management, and skills development and outreach activities. These functions should be co-located in Cardiff Capital Region of South Wales, open to Partners and visitors. Services should operate effectively to support the virtual and physical connection of multiple, distributed Partner sites under a coherent ‘cluster’ brand and operational model. The appointed Provider must have experience of working in the semiconductor sector and be capable of delivering well-informed and credible support to a diverse stakeholder base. A strong foundation the of services described has been developed through contributions of staff (particularly at IQE plc) and more recently by a small team of staff employed at Cardiff University with SIPF funds. It should therefore be noted that TUPE may apply to this services contract. Estimated Value is based upon all options to extend, current funding is for initial duration and is circa GBP1.8m. All procurement documents will be available free of charge via the University's e-tendering portal: In-Tend https://in-tendhost.co.uk/cardiffuniversity/ DOCUMENTS ONCE RELEASED; MUST BE ACCESSED AND SUBMISSIONS MADE VIA THIS PORTAL. Additional information: Link to further information relating to CSconnected SIPF; https://csconnected.com/projects/projects/csconnected-sipf/