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Competition guidance for agri-tech Catalyst round 8: agriculture and food systems innovation
UK businesses and research organisations can apply for a share of up to £3 million from DFID and Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) for projects with partners in eligible African countries. Your project must be collaborative and include all of the following: a business at least one partner from the UK one partner from an eligible African country The technical project work can be led by a partner from the UK, an eligible African country or another country. The administrative work must be led by a partner from the UK.
Defence Innovation Loans now open
Loans up to £1.6m available. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to commercialise your defence solution The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch Defence Innovation Loans which has £10 million to lend for innovative defence solutions. Accessible to SMEs, and with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum, the Defence Innovation Loan provides an excellent opportunity to apply for affordable funds to help you commercialise your defence solutions. Defence Innovation Loans: An introduction Defence Innovation Loans: An introduction How to apply? Check out the full document and submit your idea . Defence Innovation Loans Webinar On Thursday 9th September, DASA and Innovate UK hosted a live webinar to answer all of your questions about Defence Innovation Loans, where viewers spoke to our panel of experts about how to submit a successful application. Defence Innovation Loans: Webinar Watch our previous webinar We received some great questions during our last Defence Innovation Loans webinar. Catch up on what you missed here . For more Defence Innovation Loans content, check out our video playlist How much is available for a Defence Innovation Loan? The total of £10 million is available for the Defence Innovation Loan competition this year, of which comprises £5M from the Defence Innovation Fund and £5M from Army. You can apply for a loan between £250,000 and £1.6 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum. This loan can cover up to 100% of eligible project costs to aid the commercialisation of the solution and overall term of the loan must not exceed 7 years. Please note, Innovate UK will carry out the Defence Innovation Loan credit evaluation and you will enter into a loan agreement and security agreement with Innovate UK Loans Ltd. Read the full DASA competition document for more information on Defence Innovation Loans . Who can apply for a Defence Innovation Loan? To apply for a Defence Innovation Loan you must: be a UK registered SME intend to exploit the results in the UK or overseas to make a significant and positive impact on the UK economy and/or productivity give evidence that your business is suitable to take on a loan Please note, individuals, academic institutions, research organisations and large companies are not eligible for innovation loans. What kind of innovation will be considered for a loan? Defence Innovation Loans are open to innovative ideas to improve the defence of the UK. Your innovation must be mature at TRL 6 or above, to ensure the solution can be commercialised within the time scale of the Innovation Loan. There also must clearly be evidence of a defence need for the innovative solution. Two tracks of funding The Defence Innovation Loan has two tracks of funding, covering general Defence solutions and more specific solutions for the Army. Track 1: Defence Innovation Fund (£5M) Track 1 is open to innovative ideas to improve the Defence of the UK. Track 2: Army Innovation Fund (£5M) Track 2 is open to innovations which align with any of the priority areas below and targets an Army end user. Priority areas include: Army industrial engagement framework decision-support directed energy weapons human performance enhancement information advantage robotics and autonomous systems and more… Ready to apply? Read the full DASA competition document here . For more on Defence Innovation Loans, watch the video below: Defence Innovation Loans: Everything you need to know Defence Innovation Loans: Everything you need to know
Cyber security: apply now for business funding
Businesses can get an Innovation Voucher worth £5,000 to pay for an external expert to help them with their cyber security. PLEASE NOTE THIS SCHEME HAS NOW CLOSED AND NO FURTHER VOUCHERS ARE AVAILABLE. Innovate UK is offering businesses Cyber Security Innovation Vouchers worth up to £5,000. They can use these vouchers to pay for an external expert to give them advice on protecting their business against cyber attacks and potential accreditation to Cyber Essentials. They can also use this advice to protect new business ideas and intellectual property in cyber security. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is investing £500,000 in the new scheme with equal funding from Innovate UK. How Cyber Essentials certification works The Cyber Essentials programme helps organisations develop a secure platform for their business activities. They can also get accreditation to show that they’ve taken these precautions. Suppliers bidding for a government contract may need this accreditation. Since 2014, all suppliers handling certain sensitive and personal information need Cyber Essentials accreditation. There are 2 levels of certification available through the scheme: Cyber Essentials – an external assessor reviews the organisation’s responses to a questionnaire Cyber Essentials PLUS - an external assessor carries out tests of the organisation’s IT security systems Details of the Cyber Security Innovation Voucher competition Innovate UK will award Cyber Security Innovation Vouchers once every 3 months from October 2015. We enter eligible applications into a draw and choose winners at random. To qualify for a Cyber Security Innovation Voucher organisations must: be starting up or running a micro, small or medium-sized UK business have not worked with this expert before need help with something that’s a real challenge for their business, not just a small improvement or change have not had an Innovation Voucher from Innovate UK or the Technology Strategy Board before Innovate UK will help winners access an expert from one of the following: universities and further education colleges research and technology organisations technical consultancies Catapult centres design advisers intellectual property advisers Innovate UK is also running Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Partnerships . The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Innovate UK are both investing £250,000 in the new scheme and expect to fund up to 10 KTPs. These KTPs will encourage partnerships between academic institutions and cyber security companies. They will also support growth and jobs creation. Innovate UK also runs a general Innovation Voucher scheme for businesses that need expert advice in areas other than cyber security. Find out more about this competition and apply Read the press release about the scheme Read the announcement by Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey
Competition guidance for SBRI first of a kind round 3: resilience, freight, noise and environment
Businesses can apply for a share of £5.5 million, including VAT, to develop demonstrators to enhance resilience, freight operations and the environment. To lead a project, you can be an organisation of any size and must: carry out your project in the UK involve an owner of railway assets (such as stations, rolling stock or infrastructure), an experienced railway organisation and a railway organisation that has the potential to become a customer (this can be the same organisation or 3 separate organisations) include a potential integration partner as a subcontractor Partners can only be involved on a subcontract basis. This competition closes at midday 12pm UK time on the deadline. Please read the full competition scope before you apply.
Competition guidance for EUREKA: Singapore open competition
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million to develop innovative proposals with Singapore and other EUREKA countries. To be eligible for funding from Innovate UK your collaboration: must include at least one UK based micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) must include an eligible Singapore lead partner can include other UK businesses of any size or UK based research organisations must follow the full process correctly Please read the full competition scope before you start your application.
Competition guidance for SBRI: innovation in rail security surveillance analytics
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £968,000, plus VAT, for innovations that demonstrate security surveillance analytics in Network Rail stations. Your organisation: can be any size must be from the UK, EU or EEA must carry out your project in the UK Partners can only be involved as subcontractors. Please read the full competition scope before you apply.
Competition guidance for SBRI rail demonstrations: first of a kind 2020
Businesses from the UK, EU or EEA can apply for a share of up to £9.4 million, including VAT, to develop demonstrators for sustainability, customer experience, operations or maintenance. To lead a project, you can: be an organisation of any size be based in the UK, EU, or EEA work alone or with others as subcontractors You must: involve a railway asset owner (stations, rolling stock, infrastructure), an experienced railway organisation and a railway organisation that has the potential to become a customer (these can all be the same organisation) include a potential integration partner Please read the full competition scope before you apply.
Competition guidance for developing digital roads and improving air quality (development or pilot only, 1 phase): SBRI competition
Highways England is funding 2 parallel competitions for solutions and ideas for the design and use of UK roads. This competition is for proven feasibility projects at development stage (higher TRL). To lead a project, you can: be an organisation of any size work alone or with others as subcontractors Your idea must be suitable for trial on the strategic road network in England . Please read the full competition scope before you apply.
Competition guidance for EUREKA collaborative R&D: AI and quantum technologies
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million to develop AI and quantum technology or quantum sensing technologies together with organisations from EUREKA countries. To be eligible for funding from Innovate UK your collaboration: must be led by at least one UK business of any size must include at least one eligible partner from one of the EUREKA network countries must follow the full process correctly Read the full competition scope before you make your application.
Competition guidance for UK-China: precision for enhancing agricultural productivity
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £5 million to work with Chinese partners to develop new integrated precision farming technology and help achieve net-zero emissions. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Your consortium must include at least: a UK registered business of any size a UK academic institution or research and technology organisation a Chinese business of any size a Chinese academic institution or research organisation The UK partners must: carry out their project work in the UK, and in China where reasonable intend to exploit the results from or in the UK Please read the full competition scope before you apply.
Competition guidance for digitalisation of medicines manufacturing: Challenge Fund
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £8 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund for capital projects to improve medicines manufacturing. To lead a project you must: be a UK-based business of any size work alone or in collaboration with one or more businesses Please read the full competition scope before you make your application.
Innovation loans: July 2019 open competition guidance for applicants
Loans for game-changing innovations with strong commercial potential that will significantly improve the UK economy. To take on an innovation loan for a project you must: be a UK based micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) carry out your project in the UK give evidence that your business is suitable to take on a loan Please read the full competition scope before you apply.
Cycle 2 of Defence Innovation Loans now open
Loans up to £1.6m available. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to commercialise your defence solution The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch Cycle 2 the Defence Innovation Loan competition, which has £10 million to lend for innovative defence solutions. Accessible to SMEs, and with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum, the Defence Innovation Loan provides an excellent opportunity to apply for affordable funds to help you commercialise your defence solutions. Defence Innovation Loans: An introduction Defence Innovation Loans: An introduction How to apply? Check out the full document and submit your idea . Have questions? Defence Innovation Loans Webinar On Thursday 9th September, DASA and Innovate UK hosted a live webinar to answer all of your questions about Defence Innovation Loans, where viewers spoke to our panel of experts about how to submit a successful application. This webinar will be viewable on-demand shortly. Stay tuned! Watch our previous webinar We received some great questions during our last Defence Innovation Loans webinar. Catch up on what you missed here . How much is available for a Defence Innovation Loan? The total of £10 million is available for the Defence Innovation Loan competition this year, of which comprises £5M from the Defence Innovation Fund and £5M from Army. You can apply for a loan between £250,000 and £1.6 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum. This loan can cover up to 100% of eligible project costs to aid the commercialisation of the solution and overall term of the loan must not exceed 7 years. Please note, Innovate UK will carry out the Defence Innovation Loan credit evaluation of this competition and you will enter into a loan agreement and security agreement with Innovate UK Loans Ltd. Read the full DASA competition document for more information on Defence Innovation Loans . Who can apply for a Defence Innovation Loan? To apply for a Defence Innovation Loan you must: be a UK registered SME intend to exploit the results in the UK or overseas to make a significant and positive impact on the UK economy and/or productivity give evidence that your business is suitable to take on a loan Please note, individuals, academic institutions, research organisations and large companies are not eligible for innovation loans. What kind of innovation will be considered for a loan? The Defence Innovation Loan is open to innovative ideas to improve the defence of the UK. Your innovation must be mature at TRL 6 or above, to ensure the solution can be commercialised within the time scale of the Innovation Loan. There also must clearly be evidence of a defence need for the innovative solution. Two tracks of funding The Defence Innovation Loan has two tracks of funding, covering general Defence solutions and more specific solutions for the Army. Track 1: Defence Innovation Fund (£5M) Track 1 is open to innovative ideas to improve the Defence of the UK. Track 2: Army Innovation Fund (£5M) Track 2 is open to innovations which align with any of the priority areas below and targets an Army end user. Priority areas include: army Industrial engagement framework decision-support directed energy weapons human performance enhancement information advantage robotics and autonomous systems and more… Ready to apply? Read the full DASA competition document here . For more on Defence Innovation Loans, watch the video below: Defence Innovation Loans: Everything you need to know Defence Innovation Loans: Everything you need to know
Competition guidance for Newton-Ungku Omar Fund Grand Challenge 2019: phase 1
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million and Malaysian businesses a share of RM 5.5 million to collaborate on innovative solutions to large societal challenges. To lead the project in the UK your organisation must: be a UK based business of any size collaborate with at least one Malaysian business comply with Official Development Assistance requirements throughout the lifetime of the project To lead the project in Malaysia your organisation must: be a Malaysian business of any size collaborate with at least one UK business be registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia Please read the full competition scope before you start your application.
Competition guidance: UK-Israel open collaborative R&D competition 2019
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million to develop innovative technologies targeting global markets in partnership with Israeli companies. To be eligible for funding from Innovate UK your collaboration: must include at least one eligible business partner from each of the participating countries can include other UK registered businesses of any size must follow the full process correctly
Improving energy efficiency at sea: apply for funding
£7.5 million grant funding is now available for businesses to develop ways to improve how energy is managed on marine vessels. The funding is available via the Managing Energy on Marine Vessels competition, which is part-funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and run by Innovate UK. David Elson, Lead Technologist at Innovate UK commented: Energy efficiency is one of the biggest challenges facing industry today, on land or sea. I hope this competition encourages businesses already working in this area to see the potential for growth in the marine sector and develop new and exciting innovations in the process. Find out more about the Managing Energy on Marine Vessels competition Read about how Innovate UK helped Arcola Energy develop low carbon energy products using hydrogen fuel cells
First innovation loans offered to businesses improving smart cities and transport
13 businesses working on the challenges of population growth, accelerating urbanisation and climate change offered Innovate UK’s first innovation loans. Innovate UK has offered £8 million to 13 businesses developing innovative solutions for the UK’s urban infrastructure, energy and transport challenges. The 13 businesses compete in a new global smart infrastructure market, estimated to be worth £1.2 trillion per year by 2025. The companies applied into a competition which looked for innovative businesses who could use the loan to scale up and commercialise new technologies. This is part of Innovate UK’s 2-year pilot loans programme, through which a total of £50 million is available. First successful companies The first successful companies include: CitiLogik : analysing how people move to identify and analyse demand activity G-Volution : dual-fuel engines that are cheaper, cleaner and greener Alert Technology : the world’s first portable asbestos detectors Alcove : assistive Internet of Things-based technology for older adults Catagen : catalyst emissions testing and simulation Utonomy : smart gas grid control to increase biomethane injection capacity 3-Sci : moisture monitoring system for corrosion under insulation Lightfoot : connected car technology Read a case study about one of the first successful companies: Lightfoot . Unlocking opportunities for the UK Innovate UK’s Executive Chair, Dr Ian Campbell, said: Innovative businesses require innovative finance, so we’re excited about the opportunities innovation loans are now unlocking for UK businesses to lead the revolution in infrastructure, urban living, energy and connected transport. We’ve seen high levels of demand for this new, affordable, flexible and low interest finance option for innovation and we’re confident it will help potential UK businesses to scale up, create high-value jobs and ultimately accelerate economic growth and improve the quality of life across all regions. About innovation loans Innovate UK’s pilot programme of innovation loans was introduced to help scale some of the country’s most innovative companies. The programme will do this by helping tackle many of the key issues facing companies with innovative technologies and business models they want to take to market. If successful in the competitive application process, companies can borrow between £100,000 and £1 million. To find out about loan competition opportunities, sign up to get website updates from Innovate UK . Commercialising important new technologies David Petrie, Head of Corporate Finance at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said: ICAEW warmly welcomes the pilot programme for innovation loans. Many of our 150,000 members are working in, advising and investing in high-growth companies. The new programme is another step by Innovate UK to increase the funding options for R&D based ventures. Innovation loans should help the commercialisation of important new technologies because they include elements that are not typically available from high-street banks. They should work very well for particular kinds of innovative, early-stage businesses that need more investment. Guidance: find out more about innovation loans .
UK entrepreneurs are disrupting the business world
Joint list by Maserati and The Sunday Times names 9 companies that have progressed with Innovate UK funding in top 100 game changers. The Maserati 100 highlights the emerging entrepreneurs who are challenging the established order with their disruptive technologies. Now in its third year, these awards celebrate the positive impact innovative start-ups have on the economy and society as a whole. Nine businesses that have received funding from Innovate UK featured in the list. See more success stories . The businesses Crisp Thinking Group - using Crisp’s software, companies are able to moderate and monitor social media to protect their brands. It has offices in Leeds, London and New York. Crisp received funding to prototype their real-time social media management platform Ella’s Kitchen - making and selling organic baby food since 2006, the company now employs 70 people in the UK and takes 20% of the market. Global turnover is more than $100 million. Ella’s Kitchen has taken part in 3 knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP) with the University of Reading, to look at its marketing, raw materials and packaging Ella’s Kitchen: transforming the organic baby food market Horizon Discovery - a gene-editing biotech company, Horizon Discovery supports the discovery of new medicines, including personalised medicines for treating cancer. It has already acquired a number of US companies to further grow the business. Innovate UK funded collaborative research and development projects to find innovative approaches for the manufacture of high-value, genome-edited cell lines M Squared Lasers - the Glasgow-based company designs and manufactures lasers for use in industry, defence, healthcare and energy. Its revenues totalled more than £8 million last year. Innovate UK has funded several projects to help M Squared Lasers optimise laser emission intensity, develop high precision, handheld spectrometry and grow the market Swiftkey shown working on a mobile device. Metail - offering virtual fitting rooms to allow shoppers to create 3D models of themselves and try on clothes. Evans and House of Holland are among the retailers to have signed up. Metail received Innovate UK funding for feasibility and proof of concept studies, as well as prototype testing. This helped the company to develop computer vision techniques and digitise garmets with lower costs and simpler operations Ocado - a pioneering online supermarket with annual sales of £1.3 billion. Ocado was involved in a collaborative, 24-month project to trial a range of vehicles with hydrogen dual-fuel technology, in order to reduce the carbon of its vehicles Swiftkey - predictive keyboard software that’s installed in more than 300 million smartphones and tablets. Last year Swiftkey acquired by Microsoft in a deal reported to be worth $250m. Swiftkey received 2 Innovate UK grants, to test its idea for an app that would transform the way people used keyboards and help prototype it The Floow - this tool collects data for motor insurers from a driver’s phone or a black box in their vehicle. Floow has more than 70 staff in Sheffield and clients include Direct Line and AIG. Floow was involved in a collaborative funding project to accelerate the development, market readiness and deployment of automated driving systems The Framestore - an innovative special effects firm that has worked on films including Gravity, the 2013 Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects. The Framestore received funding in 2 collaborative projects: to create an extensible, pluggable digital security framework that protects media companies; and the development of a production pipeline process that improves quality, speeds up production and reduces costs Apply for innovation funding .
New £153 million programme to commercialise UK’s quantum tech
£153 million Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund funding, alongside £205 million from industry, will support commercialisation of quantum technologies. New quantum technologies have the potential to revolutionise a range of industries – from cyber security to defence and healthcare. But as an emerging technology, research and innovation in quantum technologies requires continuing government support in order to maximise the industry’s potential in the UK. Government has announced that it will invest £153 million through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s (ISCF) new commercialising quantum technologies challenge. The funding will support businesses delivering quantum-enabled products and help remove technological barriers to productivity and competitiveness in the UK. It will be supported by £205 million from industry. The programme will be delivered by UK Research and Innovation, and lifts total UK investment or planned investment in the National Quantum Technologies Programme (NQTP) to over £1 billion. What is quantum technology? Read a blog by challenge director Roger McKinlay . Challenge scope The challenge will invest in 4 key areas, designed to support all aspects of the UK’s quantum industry growth: product and service innovations: a series of collaborative research and development competitions to deliver game-changing quantum-enabled products and services industry-led technology development projects: a programme of industry-managed research activities addressing specific challenges supply chain: feasibility projects focused on innovative components and supply chain elements across the quantum sector investment accelerator: encouraging venture capital for early-stage, spin-out and start-up quantum technologies companies Laying the foundations for a quantum industry UK Research and Innovation Chief Executive, Professor Sir Mark Walport, said: The UK is a world leader in quantum technologies. The funding announced today builds on the great progress we have made and lays the foundations for a quantum technology industry here in the UK. It will ensure that we remain at the forefront of this exciting and evolving field and that we realise its potential, from improved healthcare to more accurate and reliable navigation, that is fundamental to so many services. Transforming lives Roger McKinlay, Challenge Director for Quantum Technologies at UK Research and Innovation said: Quantum technologies will transform all aspects of our lives from more efficient infrastructure to higher levels of security in the transmission and storage of data. The announcement of this significant public funding for the industrialisation of quantum technologies exemplifies the benefits of the Industrial Strategy, both in terms of improved coordination across government departments and also the creation of long-term partnerships between government, academia and businesses. Five years of investment in the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme has given the UK a technological lead which businesses are now ready to turn in to a significant commercial advantage. Read about the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme . Building on pioneer projects’ success Through the ISCF quantum challenge, UK government has already invested £20 million in 4 pioneer projects. The projects, which are still ongoing, focused on delivering quantum-enabled prototypes within 2 years in 3 areas: gravity sensing secure communications developing a quantum-enabled clock One project has been developing a device that will use quantum technology to see underground. The device has applications in infrastructure planning and development and is being delivered by engineering and environmental firm RSK. Case study: 2020 quantum prototype will help engineers see underground . Sign up for email alerts to hear about new funding opportunities .
Robots compete in nuclear decommissioning challenge
Robots controlled by smart auto-navigation systems are doing battle in an £8.5 million competition to find ways to tackle Sellafield radioactive hotspots. An array of robots controlled by super-smart auto-navigation systems are doing battle in an £8.5 million competition to develop new ways of tackling some of Sellafield’s most radioactive hotspots. Last year, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and fellow government agency Innovate UK launched a search for innovative technologies that could be combined into a single seamless process for use in facilities that will soon embark on a major decommissioning journey. Working closely with Sellafield Ltd, who would use the technology, submissions to a competitive process were invited from all industrial sectors. Five promising ideas have now made it through to the final stages after being whittled down from a shortlist of 15. The newly formed consortia are each set to receive up to £1.5 million to build prototype demonstrators for testing in a simulated radioactive environment. Conventional approaches to working in high-hazard environments involve teams of workers, clad in protective air-fed suits, who would be restricted to working no more than a few hours at a time. The process is extremely time-consuming, costly and poses risks to the workers. The projects include technology developed for space missions to Mars The goal of Sellafield and the NDA is to reduce risks to workers, increase productivity, deal efficiently with waste, reduce timescales and cut overall costs to the taxpayer: safer, faster, cheaper. This is complemented by the role of Innovate UK who are looking to drive productivity and growth in the UK through the support and implementation of innovation. Announcing the projects, the NDA’s Head of Technology Melanie Brownridge said the response from suppliers and academic institutions had been so promising, that more funds were added to top up the original £3 million pot increasing it to £8.5 million: We were all incredibly excited by the quality and diversity of the submissions, which came from established nuclear organisations as well as industries, such as space and defence sectors, working with us for the first time. Such a fantastic response meant that we were able to secure additional funding from Innovate UK and the Government’s department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which will allow more of the ideas to be fully explored and also investigated for potential use in other hazardous environments. The projects demonstrate the full range of innovation – using existing ideas in an innovative way through to cutting-edge new technologies. All the projects are being developed by collaborative consortia formed specifically for this competition. The participating organisations, almost 30 in total, include small businesses, large corporations and academic institutions. The winning project – or projects – could be put to work at Sellafield’s Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) and Magnox Reprocessing Plant, which are both due to close by 2020. After closure, scores of rooms, or ‘cells’, at the facilities must be cleaned out, with the waste safely treated for packing and storage. Melanie added: It’s a huge challenge. The new integrated system must establish what’s inside the cells, measure the radioactivity, access spaces that have been sealed for years, cut up the contents (including large vessels and many miles of pipework), segregate the waste, then remove it for treatment and safe storage. Radioactivity levels are extremely high, restricting workforce access, so the work must be carried out remotely. A number of the technologies are tried and tested nuclear favourites; some are well established in other industries; others are brand new. One of the challenges will be to develop a smooth interaction between all the different component parts. Industries that have been keen to step up to the challenge include computer gaming, fume extraction, sea-fishing, medical imaging, oil and gas as well as space and defence. Many ideas include robots which range from large industrial giants to small ant-like devices that can work collectively and easily be replaced in the event of a break-down. One of the auto-mapping systems was developed for use in missions to Mars and will be adapted to scan the interior of a radioactive cell. Some projects will immerse operatives in a virtual world, where they will intuitively be able to control robots and equipment as if they were actually inside the cells. Melanie added: The NDA is continually seeking the best ways to encourage innovation and bring in new ideas from the supply chain and ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute. Part of our mission is to support innovation and technology growth, with the aim of pushing forward the decommissioning of extremely complex nuclear challenges. Derek Allen, Innovation Lead for Energy at Innovate UK, said: We have been delighted by the response to this competition and the additional funding will enable us to support more innovative organisations with great ideas to make nuclear decommissioning cheaper, safer and faster. This has the potential to open up significant business opportunities for UK organisations both nationally and globally. This programme fully aligns with one of the Governments Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund priority areas: ‘Robotics and artificial intelligence in extreme environments’ which is looking to create a safer working world for people, improve productivity and support advances in industry and public services. After the first series of trials, set to take place over the next 18 months, those with potential could progress to more rigorous trials in a radioactive environment. Approval from the nuclear regulators will be required before the integrated system can be deployed at Sellafield or other NDA sites. Melanie added: We’re hopeful that a number may be successful, and could be used in various different situations at our sites as well as in other hazardous scenarios, both here and overseas. More on the projects and how they are developing will be released over the next 12 months including articles from each consortium. The five successful projects are (lead contractor in bold): Barrnon Ltd Atkins, Cambrian Intelligence Ltd, Createc Ltd, Veolia (Oxford Technologies) Createc Ltd OC Robotics, Red Engineering Design Ltd, Structure Vision Ltd, React Engineering Ltd, UKEA, Race Ltd Wood Airbus Defence & Space Ltd, Damavan Imaging, Clicks & Links Ltd, TWI, Digital Concepts Engineering Ltd, IS Instruments Ltd, i3D Robotics Ltd, University of Lancaster, University of Salford, Kawasaki Cavendish Nuclear Babcock Analytic Solutions, OC Robotics Nuvia Clicks & Links Ltd, Hu-Tech Ltd, Imitec Ltd, PaR Systems Ltd, UKEA RACE Ltd, University of Bristol, University of Manchester Integrated Innovation Competition project details ( PDF , 391 KB , 9 pages ) Read more about the background in a blog by the NDA’s Melanie Brownridge