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The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EPSRC] are jointly supporting UK participation in ENIAC JU calls.

https://www.innovateuk.or...ns/-/competitions/view/42

Investment up to �7.5m in collaborative R&D, to develop in-vivo clinical imaging and non-invasive technologies.

https://www.innovateuk.or...ns/-/competitions/view/31

Competition to rejuvenate public services by procuring R&D services that will develop higher quality and more sustainable elderly care solutions.

https://www.innovateuk.or...ons/-/competitions/view/9

The Artemis Joint Undertaking will manage and co-ordinate open calls for research activities over a 10-year period with a ?2.5 billion research programme on Embedded Computing Systems.

https://www.innovateuk.or...ns/-/competitions/view/30

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is to invest up to �500k to establish new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) to stimulate innovation in the UK retail sector.

https://www.innovateuk.or...ns/-/competitions/view/14

Investment of up to �2.4m for industry-led Small Business Research Intiative (SBRI) projects.

https://www.innovateuk.or...ns/-/competitions/view/35

The European Commission has adopted a new strategy for encouraging the use of green infrastructure, and for ensuring that the enhancement of natural processes becomes a systematic part of spatial planning. Green Infrastructure is a tried and tested tool that uses nature to provide ecological, economic and social benefits. Instead of building flood protection infrastructure, for example, a green infrastructure solution would be to allow a natural wetland to absorb the excess water from heavy rain.  

Smarter rules for safer food: Commission proposes landmark package to modernise, simplify and strengthen the agri-food chain in Europe

The European Commission has t adopted a package of measures to strengthen the enforcement of health and safety standards for the whole agri-food chain. Food safety is essential to ensure consumers' confidence and sustainability of food production.

The package of measures provide a modernised and simplified, more risked-based approach to the protection of health and more efficient control tools to ensure the effective application of the rules guiding the operation of the food chain.

The package responds to the call for better simplification of legislation and smarter regulation thus reducing administrative burden for operators and simplifying the regulatory environment. Special consideration is given to the impact of this legislation on SMEs and micro enterprises which are exempted from the most costly and burdensome elements in the legislation.  

The Eurosystem, comprising the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks of the euro area countries, has completed preparations for the introduction of a new €5, the first banknote in the Europa series.

The new note will be issued through traditional channels, i.e. via bank counters and automated teller machines (ATMs) across the euro area as of 2 May 2013. The €5 banknotes of the first series will continue to circulate alongside the new banknotes, but they will gradually be withdrawn. The date when they cease to be legal tender will be announced well in advance. Even after this date, they will retain their value indefinitely and will be exchangeable at euro area national central banks at any time.  

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Millennium bcp signed an agreement of EUR 200 million to finance small and medium-sized projects promoted essentially by SMEs and Mid-Cap companies. Millennium bcp is also committed to providing its own resources to beneficiary SMEs, thereby increasing the overall funding available in support of Portugal’s economy, which is undergoing a demanding adjustment program that should be mixed with measures to fuel growth an employment. 

Awards of £24k to encourage digital innovation in the health sector. The aim of this contest is to promote good practice across the healthcare profession and improve patient engagement and health.  

http://www.innovateuk.org...-clinical-excellence.ashx

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) are to invest up to £3m in the development of innovative sensing for asset protection under the SBRI initiative.
Registration deadline 19 June 2013.

http://www.innovateuk.org...ection-using-integra.ashx

An Innovation Voucher helps companies to access knowledge from universities, colleges and other centres of expertise. With funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Cyber Security Innovation Voucher will support SMEs, entrepreneurs and early-stage start-ups who want to protect and grow their online business.

The new Innovation Voucher, which joins a range of Innovation Vouchers from the Technology Strategy Board, will allow Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to bid for up to £5,000 from a £500,000 pot, to help improve their cyber security by bringing in outside expertise.

Innovation Vouchers for cyber security can be used to secure specialist consulting and services to help:

• Businesses looking to protect new inventions and business processes
• Businesses looking to ‘cyber audit' their existing processes
• Businesses looking to move online and develop a technology strategy
• Business start-ups looking to develop an idea into a working prototype and needing to build cyber security into the business from the very beginning

Full details about the Innovation Vouchers initiative, guidance notes and how to apply can be found at the link below:

https://vouchers.innovateuk.org/cyber-security

Applications are now open and will be accepted up to 24th July 2013"

https://vouchers.innovateuk.org/cyber-security

This new technology enables electronics devices to be printed in exactly  the same way as we produce newspapers today, on a rolling strip, at the same speed, and from the same printing machines. 

Displays, smart labels, transistors, energy sources and whole communication systems roll out from printing machines, quickly, cheaply and eco-friendly.

If you can imagine applications, or if you are a printer or electronics company who would like to enter this area, read more.

Have you got  a Healthcare or Environment product or service that you wantt to sell into France?

A French company founded by French-German managing partners and specialized in the Healthcare & Environment markets offers itself as a commercial agent in the western part of France, or as a master agent throughout Metropolitan France to its partners. See the details here

Featuring Peter Walters UK ICT National Contact Point, Ian Broster Rapita Systems, Martin McHugh Microsemi Corporation, Ian Philips ARM Ltd., Dave Carter Manchester Digital Development Agency.

Attached is a guide produced by the  by NI Barroso Task Force.

We are approaching a key stage in the development of the EU’s budget, with negotiations to agree the Multi-Annual
Financial Framework for the period 2014-2020 still ongoing. The European Commission has proposed an overall budget of over €1 trillion, but it is highly unlikely that this will be accepted by member states, many of whom will be pushing for significant cuts. Although the overall policy objectives and programmes are unlikely to change dramatically at this stage, there is still a great deal of uncertainty around the amount of funding that will be available through each of the proposed new programmes.

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £4.5m to stimulate significant cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from existing homes. The aim is to allow consortia to radically improve their retrofit products in order to bring about greater take-up in the market. 

The Technology Strategy Board, Welsh Government and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are to invest jointly up to £1m to establish new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) in the area of power electronics.

We are looking to support a cohort of up to 12 KTPs UK-wide for this thematic KTP competition, with up to three of these coming from companies based in Wales. Power electronics is considered key to enabling a resilient energy system for a future UK energy mix which will include a larger percentage of renewables, connectivity to a European supergrid, community energy systems, and electric vehicle charging.

This targeted call for KTPs aims to stimulate and support supply chain innovation in power electronics and the energy sector. It is part of a £5.4m programme and is running in parallel with a £4.4m Technology Strategy Board investment in power electronics. Typical annual project costs could be in the region of £60k with a third of this being contributed by the company, in the case of an SME. 

The Technology Strategy Board, in partnership with the Welsh Government and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (ESPRC), is to invest up to £5.4m in a programme of technical feasibility studies, collaborative research and development and knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP). The aim is to stimulate innovation and develop UK supply chains between the power electronics and energy sectors.

We see power electronics as key to enabling a resilient energy system for a future UK energy mix which will include a larger percentage of renewables, connectivity to a European supergrid, community energy systems and electric vehicle charging.

The aim of this competition is to link the power electronics community across the supply chain to energy suppliers and original equipment manufacturers to encourage collaboration and innovation in response to current challenges. 

The new IEE call for project proposals is open! In 2013, there will be € 65 million available for funding.

Do not miss the opportunity to submit your ideas for projects in areas such as energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, clean transport and local energy investments!

The call closes on 8th May 2013 for all types of actions except the BUILD UP Skills initiative which has different deadlines. An info day is planned on 23rd January in Brussels - see more below

› Find out more on the IEE website.

› Contact the “Intelligent Energy Europe” helpdesk.

Open Calls - FP7 Overview of all Open Calls at 8th November 2012
 

Have you an exciting and innovative project that could benefit from university based research and knowledge and a graduate to help you deliver it? Invest Northern Ireland is currently inviting registrations of interest from Northern Ireland businesses for the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Programme. 

The European Commission has offered a €2 million prize to encourage inventors to overcome one of the biggest barriers to using vaccines in developing countries: the need to keep them stable at any ambient temperature. It is the first time the European Commission has offered a so-called inducement prize to stimulate research and innovation in the European Union.