On 15th June 2006 The Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre became part of HOT. The Centre on Hopwood Lane was developed to house up to 40 businesses in a purpose-built space, which continues to thrive at almost full occupancy today.
When it was first launched, it was identified as the UK’s National Centre for Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies, which meant that there was a lot of interest from many local businesses looking to learn more about this technology and become trail blazers.
The Centre was a continuation of the business support work that the Trust carried out, as part of its work helping businesses in the community start-up and grow. Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre provided a dedicated resource for pre-start and start-up businesses, as well as youth enterprise.
In the same year the Trust helped 650 local people find new jobs, most of which had been trained by the Trust in Basic Food Hygiene and Health and Safety. This links back to the Trust’s focus on training, at the time. All essential activities to help boost the local economy and improve social mobility.
Learn more about our 21st Birthday celebrations
As well as the information from our archives and the contributions our connections are kindly providing to tell our story, we have lots of other things planned. Learn more on our official webpage, via the button below.