technology strategy board

Are you a small enterprise looking for some help with funding?

The lovely folks at the Technology Strategy Board are launching a brand new competition for feasibility studies with up to two million pounds available for small micro companies. To see if you’re company fits the criteria, visit here. 

Government backed IC tomorrow, part of the Technology Strategy has launched its latest competition, Digital Innovation Contest 2013, with up to 7 awards of £25,000 up for grabs.

Backed by HarperCollins, Constable & Robinson, MediaCom, Ogilvy Mather UK Group and JCDecaux, FremantleMedia UK, Samsung, and YouTube, it focuses on media, publishing, mobile content and outdoor media.

Update: The full application process and guidance notes are now live.

Monday (4th April) sees the launch of a new R&D grant scheme from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) for small and medium-sized companies in science, engineering and technology sectors.

Unlike previous TSB schemes which have required organisations to collaborate in order to secure funding, the R&D grants are available to single companies, which must be based in the UK and fit with the EU definition of an SME. 

Three types of grant are available:

A new initiative announced by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), sees the launch of IC tomorrow, a platform for content owners and app developers to test drive ideas and applications with a closed group of consumers (sign-up here) using content from major content owners including Sony Music, Getty Images and Crytek.

The platform will host 20 consumer trials focused on the creative industries including music, TV/film and publishing, with a total fund of £200,000 up for grabs to support six month-long trials on the platform. Entrepreneurs are being encouraged to use the platform which will also include mentoring, as well as up to £10,000 per project funding and access to premium content.

The Technology Strategy Board, following funding calls earlier this year designed to encourage collaboration between companies for cutting edge technology, are hosting Innovate 10 next week. And they've kindly given us ten tickets to give away.

The event, which includes a keynote from David Willetts MP will address all aspects of technology innovation, with a special focus on the commercial exploitation of the digital economy, healthcare markets of the future, energy generation and supply and the sustainability economy.

There’s a digital ‘journey’ that you can follow at this year’s event. It starts with two sessions How Digital Technology Will Drive Growth in the Creative Industries, and Make the Connection between Open Innovation and Social Media. You can then follow this by voting for your favourite new idea when companies will be pitching for up to £100k of funding in the Innovate Launch Pad: Digital & Healthcare.

You'll need to be quick (deadline this Thu 16th Sept), but a new competition from the Technology Strategy Board's (TSB) new £600k Launchpad competition gives the chance for small business to move their best ideas from the drawing board into the real-world.

The judges are after "disruptive solutions for energy, digital, healthcare, & sustainability problems" that can be addressed in three month projects - the full background is outlined on the TSB website.

They're looking to see what you'll do with £25k and for the lucky few that are invited to put forward a written submission and pitch at Innovate 10: Connecting for Growth on 12th October in London, with the opportunity to run their project over six months with £100k funding.

The Partnering for Innovation (Metadata) events drew the cream of the UK's Metadatarists, which if not a proper word, should be.

The competition itself opens on 13th September so there's still plenty of time to put find a partner and put in an application. During the events in Birmingham and London, delegates took place in an Ideas Marketplace, outlining their concepts, companies, partners wanted and provide a handy way to find potential collaborators.

Judging by the number of people coming along to the Partnering for Innovation events, there's lots of interest in collaboration to get a slice of the £18m Collaboration Across Digital Industries competition.

There are a number of challenges in entering a winning bid: meeting the scope of the competition, finding the time (you'll need ~100 hours for a mainstream application) and finding partners to collaborate with.

Are you working with Metadata? Want to get a share of £5m for research and development? Then get yourself along to one of three events covering the Technology Strategy Board's (TSB) new £5m competition, Metadata: Increasing Value in Digital Content Collaborative R&D Competition.

The competition, launched on the 1st June, provides match-funding for projects which address three opportunities to build revenue streams with more efficient and innovative use of metadata.

It's been a particularly hectic month for zipping up and and down the country hosting the Partnering for Innovation events, promoting the £18m Collaboration Across Digital Industries competition.

If you've missed out, the good news is that there's another chance to find out about this competition, the Digital Communications KTN are running a briefing in London on 5th July (info here).

Over the course of the events, there's been dozens of presentations, heaps of official-looking information, hundreds of conversations and, for me, a lot of learning in the way that groups can collaborate.