Opening Date: 3 October 2016
Deadline: 30 November 2016
Innovate UK is currently inviting applications for its program entitled “Emerging & Enabling Technologies Round 1” with an aim to help businesses innovate to find new revenue sources. Proposals should show how to achieve a step change in business growth, productivity and export opportunities for at least one UK small and medium-sized enterprise (SME).
Emerging and Enabling Technologies programme (E&E) identifies and invests in new technologies and the underpinning capabilities that improve existing industries. The program aim is to inspire the new products, processes and services of tomorrow; those with the potential to unlock billions of pounds of value to industry and disrupt existing markets.
The aim of this program is to help businesses broaden out innovation activities, to find new sources of revenue from new products, processes or services. Projects will:
- harness E&E technologies across the economy
- develop and scale-up research and development to bring ideas, processes and products closer to availability at scale and commercial release
- use design processes to understand customer motivations and behaviour and use that insight to create better products, services and processes
Focus Areas
Projects must clearly show high-growth potential innovations in one or more of the following areas:
- Any emerging technology that can demonstrate a step change in performance and the potential to disrupt existing industrial approaches; we are particularly looking to fund projects in energy harvesting, imaging technologies, graphene or biofilms
- Any enabling technology in: satellite applications; electronics; sensors; photonics; digital; internet of things; data; cybersecurity; virtual or augmented reality; and distributed ledger technology
Themes
Innovation in emerging technologies that show significant industry and commercial improvement in novel applications of:
- Energy harvesting
- Imaging technologies
- Graphene or biofilms
- Other areas of emerging technology
Innovation in enabling technologies that:
- Show benefits across multiple industrial sectors or markets
- Provide new products and services
- Allow new applications for existing products and services
- Enable new capabilities or business models
Innovate UK are particularly encouraging proposals that address:
- Systems that combine multiple technologies to deliver a focused, real-world outcome, for example, combining earth observation data from satellites with other technologies to improve business performance
- Smart sensor systems that allow intelligent decisions to be made by looking at miniaturisation, low-power processing and communications
- Smart technology that provides a richer and more informative output to the end user
- Photonics for manufacturing, healthcare and imaging
- Digital technologies with substantial potential to change and disrupt sectors of the economy; for example, distributed ledgers, or augmented and virtual reality.
Funding Information
Innovate UK is investing up to £15 million in innovation projects.
- Stream 1: Projects with eligible costs of up to £100,000 and 12 months or less in duration.
- Stream 2: Projects with eligible costs of up to £2 million and between 12 and 36 months in duration.
Eligibility Criteria
To lead a project, applicants must:
- be a UK-based business (of any size)
- have at least one SME involved in your proposal
- carry out your project work, and intend to exploit the results, in the UK
- work alone or in collaboration with others (businesses, research base and third sector)
How to Apply
Applicants can apply via given website.
Eligible Country: United Kingdom
For more information, please visit Innovate UK.