Innovative Small Companies Pitch For £600,000 Development Funding
Christian Harris, 07/09/2010, posted in "Analysis"
Christian Harris is editor of BCW. Christian is an IT journalist with over 17 years industry experience. In that time he has launched, edited and written for numerous magazines ...more info
Christian Harris is editor of BCW. Christian is an IT journalist with over 17 years industry experience. In that time he has launched, edited and written for numerous magazines and Web sites including PC Magazine, ZDNet, TechWorld, VNUnet, PC Advisor, PCW, GameSpot, Stuff, Press Gazette, Web User, The Daily Mail and The Guardian. As a copywriter/blogger, Christian also works on freelance marketing projects that include producing Web sites and writing white papers, case studies and press releases. Christian has a BA (Hons) in Publishing from the London College of Communication. ...less info
Small companies from across the UK are being invited to submit a two-minute video to pitch for a share of £600,000 of government funding to kick-start the development of new technology.
Businesses have until only 16 September to submit their video pitch for the competition, which is being run by the Technology Strategy Board, and people will be able to watch the short video presentations and comment on the proposals. The best proposals will be invited to make a live pitch for funding at the Innovate10 conference and exhibition in London on 12 October – where the audience will have the chance to cast a vote for their favourite ideas.
The Competition for Disruptive Solutions aims to stimulate innovative new ideas in four areas – energy, digital, healthcare and sustainability – and the company with the best proposal in each area will receive £100,000 to take their idea forward. The second and third best proposals in each area will receive £25,000.
Explaining the thinking behind the novel competition David Bott, the Technology Strategy Board’s Director of Innovation Programmes, said: “We are aiming this special competition at small companies because while they often come up with radical ideas they find it difficult to get the right sort of support to develop their ideas through the important early stages.
“Through this competition we are looking for ideas for disruptive solutions in the four key areas of energy, digital, healthcare and sustainability. By a ‘disruptive’ solution we mean one that creates a new or unexpected market opportunity by applying a different set of values. We are looking for radical ideas that will provide good business opportunities for British businesses.”
After the two-minute video pitches are submitted the public will be able to provide opinion and feedback online. The videos in each of the four themes will then be assessed by independent judges and, taking into account any public comments, the best 15 ideas in each theme will be invited to make written submissions. After a further independent assessment the businesses behind the best three ideas in each theme will be invited to make a live pitch at Innovate10 on 12 October. These pitches will take place in front of a panel of expert independent judges – four judges for each technology area – with the Innovate10 audience acting as the fifth judge.
Full information about the Competition for Disruptive Solutions, and guidance on how to enter, can be found at: http://www.innovate10.co.uk/launch-pad/about.
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