Please find below summary
information on the current R&D competitions being run by the Technology
Strategy Board (TSB), the government funded agency that supports and funds
technology innovation in the UK. There are currently 5 competitions running
that are relevant to digital content companies.
These competitions are:
. Network
Services Demonstrators competition (£2m)
. Trusted
Services competition (£8m)
.
Collaboration Across Digital Industries competition (£18m)
.
Integrating Smart Meters into Systems for Smart Homes competition (£4.5m)
. Metadata:
Increasing the Value of Digital Content (£5m)
Note: these sums to be invested are all maximum amounts.
South East Media Network,
through its Digital Content Knowledge Network (DCKN), is supporting and
participating in the various TSB briefing and consortia building events being
run over the summer. We are there
to support and facilitate bids from the South East, so if you are a South East
of England company, university or organisation and require any assistance or
support in finding partners for your collaborative bid, please do contact the
DCKN on 01753 639211 or email: info@semn.org.uk.
As mentioned, the TSB and
its associated Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs) are running briefing and
consortia building workshops linked to each of these competitions over the
summer of 2010. These events are invaluable to anyone wishing to bid and are
all free to attend. Workshop
dates and competition deadlines are as below. Do keep an eye on the TSB website
www.innovateuk.org as additional
information may be added during this period. You can sign up to the TSB
newsletter on their website if you wish which will keep you up to date on their
competition announcements (also listed on their website).
***********************
Competition
Deadlines
£2m ‘Network
Services Demonstrators’ Call
Competition opened on 10 May 2010
Deadline Stage 1 Applications: 24 June 2010 (noon)
Deadline Stage 2 Submissions: 9 September 2010 (noon)
£8m ‘Trusted
Services’ Call
Competition opened on: 10 May 2010
Expressions of Interest: 17 June 2010
Deadline for Full Applications: 18 August 2010
£18m ‘Collaborating
Across Digital Industries’ Call
Competition opens: 14 June 2010 (fast-track projects): 12 July 2010
(mainstream projects)
Deadline for Fast-track Applications: 22 July 2010
Deadline for Mainstream Applications:
Expression of Interest, 19 August 2010: Full Stage Application:
4 November 2010
Consortia Building & Competition Briefing Events:
Competition Briefing event: 22 June 2010 (fast-track projects),
21 July 2010 (mainstream projects)
Partnering for Innovation’, Consortia building workshop In London:
29thJune 2010
Digital Communications KTN
workshop to help networking companies participate in the call: 5th July http://www.semn.org.uk/Events/event_detail.aspx?eid=280
£4.5m
‘Integrating Smart Meters into Systems for Smart Homes’ Call
Competition opened: 19 May 2010
Deadline for receipt of applications: 8 July 2010, noon
£5m
‘Metadata: Increasing the Value of Digital Content’ Call
Competition opens: 13 September 2010 (fast-track and mainstream
projects)
Deadline for Fast-track Applications: 21 October 2010 (round
1), 16 December 2010 (round 2)
Deadline for Mainstream Applications:
Expression of Interest, 21 October 2010: Full Stage
Application: 16 December 2010
Consortia Building & Competition Briefing Events:
Partnering for Innovation workshop In London: 6 July 2010
Optional Briefing event for both fast-track and
mainstream: 23 September 2010
Competition &
Event Details
1.
‘Network Services Demonstrators’
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) announced a new £2m
competition for funding, Digital Testbed: Network Services Demonstrators
[formerly referred to as ‘Generation II Digital Testbeds’], which opened on May
10th. The TSB expects the demonstrators that emerge from this competition's
projects to become national hotspots for trials and innovation in business
models, applications and services that centre on advanced network
infrastructure and service enablers. The competition is open to business-led
consortia, and the TSB encourages collaboration among the various communities
in the digital ecosystem.
Competition leaflet (pdf below) and competition details
at:
http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/digital-testbed-network-services-demonstrators.ashx
The Technology Strategy
Board have also set up an open resource for
information and discussion on _Connect, about this event, for more information please see: http://www.semn.org.uk/information/_TSB_Network%20Services_update.ASPX
2.
‘Trusted Services’ Call
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has allocated up to
£8m to invest in highly innovative collaborative R&D projects in the area
of trusted services. The tools, techniques and services deployed will
accelerate the deployment of secure and trustworthy information systems, within
Digital Britain and the wider global economy. The TSB is focusing on business-led collaborative projects
to develop trusted services which rely on technologies and their associated
supply chains that will deliver significant improvements over today’s service
offerings. Up to one quarter of the funding will be awarded to fast-track
projects which last up to 12 months and have a total value of less than £150k.
The remainder of the funding will be awarded to collaborative R&D projects
lasting 12 – 36 months and with a total project value exceeding £150k.
Competition leaflet (pdf below) and details at:
www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/trusted-services-competition.ashx
3. ‘Collaborating Across Digital
Industries’ Call
Optional Briefing Event, 22 June
Partnering for Innovation Workshop, 29 June, London
The Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network (CI
KTN) has organised a series of free workshops across the UK including two in
London to support the launch of a new £18m collaborative R&D programme and additional metadata exploitation fund from the
Technology Strategy Board (TSB). The purpose of the workshops is to foster
industry and academic partnerships and provide practical insights into creating
an effective proposal and securing funding. The programme links three grand
challenges: developing an internet trusted by users, evolving hardware and
software infrastructure, and providing new business models for digital content and services. All applicants will
be required to prove that they will work to devise shared solutions that span
at least two of the three main challenge areas: people, content and services,
and networks. There will be two rounds to this competition, the first
allocating up to £10 million and the second up to £8 million. Projects can be either ‘fast-track’ (up
to £100k in total project value) which should be completed within 12 months, or
‘mainstream’ (more than £100k in total project value) which will last from
about 12 months up to a maximum of 24 months. Both types of project will
attract 50% public funding.
The first London event was on 3rd June: the
second is on 29 June. Both London events cover the same agenda. Two events have
been organised to accommodate the larger numbers of
interested parties in the South East and London regions. These two events are
bring run in partnership with South East Media Network and supported by the
Internet Advertising Bureau.
The event will cover:
. how to enter the Collaborating Across Digital
Industries competition
. detailed information on deadlines and eligibility
. the chance to quiz the TSB on specific proposal issues
. networking and collaboration opportunities
. workshops on proposal writing and pitching
. what to expect from the application process.
The events are free to attend but do
sign up to secure your place as there is heavy demand.
More information & to sign up:
http//chinwag.com/events/pfi
Event contact: Anita Onwuegbuzie at Creative Industries
KTN
Email: a.onwuegbuzie@arts.ac.uk
Web: www.creativeindustriesktn.org
Competition details in TSB competition leaflet (pdf
below).
4. ‘Integrating Smart Meters into
Systems for Smart Homes’ Call
The TSB, in partnership with the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills, is to invest up to £4.5m in innovative collaborative
research, development and demonstration projects. The project will integrate
‘smart’ meters with communications to make a ‘smart’ system that will have an
impact on the demand for, and use of, energy in the home. This competition aims to accelerate the
speed at which innovations are able to enter the market. The TSB is
particularly interested in projects which help to understand the way in which
consumer demand for energy might change in the light of the integration of
smart home technologies.
It is anticipated projects will start in July or August 2010 and all projects
must be completed by end of March 2011. The TSB expects to fund projects with a
total project value of £400k-£2m.
Competition details:
http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/integrating-smart-meters-into-systems-for-smart-ho.ashx
£5m
‘Metadata: Increasing the Value of Digital Content’ Call
This competition addresses the new challenge of
generating revenue from digital content, by supporting projects that
demonstrate the value of metadata. A second competition in early 2011 will
support the development of tools and solutions to product higher quality
metadata and use metadata to produce digital content more efficiently. In this competition the TSB will invest
in business-led collaborative R&D projects to develop prototypes and
demonstrators with the potential to enter the market wihin 1-2 years of
completion. TSB will fund two types of projects: fast-track projects less than
£100,000 in total project value and mainstream projects more than £100,000 in
total value. For fast-track projects there will be three rounds of funding
investing up to £200k in each round. Mainstream projects will typically last
between 12 and 24 months and must be business led. There will be one round for
mainstream projects with a TSB investment of up to £4.4 million in total.
For competition details see Metadata leaflet (pdf
below).
_________________
Update of 3 June 2010