Category Archives: Business

Supporting Innovation in the UK Retail Sector – full briefing released

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The ESRC and TSB have now released a full briefing document for ‘Supporting Innovation in the UK Retail Sector’, the new targeted call for KTP proposals aiming to “help retail managers address the major economic, social and environmental challenges that they face, leading to new opportunities and tangible outcomes for business”. The document can be downloaded at: http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/ktp/supporting-innovation-in-the-uk-retail-sector.ashx

 The specific aims of this call are to:

o             increase knowledge exchange between retailers and economic / social scientists*

o             develop a greater understanding of the changing nature of the UK High Street and retail spaces to drive growth, innovation and efficiency within the sector

o             stimulate and support innovations in e-commerce, m-commerce and omni-commerce, to maintain and strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in internet retailing

o             promote and enable innovations in the use of ‘big data,’ providing insights into consumer behaviour, increasing efficiency and growth within the retail sector

o             support other innovative projects, addressing one or more sectoral challenges

 *It’s well worth academics working outside of these disciplines submitting expressions of interest, though. As the briefing makes clear (p.4)  – if the ESRC doesn’t fund them, another KTP funder might (and see also the last of the five aims, above – “other innovative projects” will be funded). Interdisciplinary and cross-faculty approaches can also be considered.

 Partners should be businesses in the retail sector that:

  • need further support to understand and respond to the challenges facing the sector;
  • are looking to access social and economic science skills and knowledge (see above) to help them innovate in dealing with these challenges; 
  • want to build and improve their capability in innovation.

 The application process is essentially the same as that for a ‘normal’ KTP and the deadline for submission is 21st August, 2013. Please contact Dominic Collins (01785 353404 / d.collins@staffs.ac.uk )if you’re interested.

Using new data sources and analytic techniques to map innovation and business growth in the UK

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 An invitation to propose research projects

Nesta plans to award a number of grants to fund research that uses new analytical techniques or new data sets to measure and map innovative activity and growth among businesses across the UK.

 What Nesta is looking to fund:

Nesta invites proposals for research projects that make use of new analytic technologies to cast light on innovation and business growth in the UK. Methodologies that we are particularly interested in supporting include:

a) Analysis of new data from social media or other online interactions used to provide more up-to-date or granular figures than structured official statistics.

b) Analysis of unstructured data through web scraping, text mining or similar techniques

c) Novel combinations of structured and unstructured data to review new insights.

We are particularly interested in research addressing any of the following questions:

i. Insight into start-up activity in the UK, including levels of start-up activity, trends among start-ups, and other insights into what start-ups are doing

ii. Insight into high-tech firms in the UK, including levels of activity, trends among tech businesses, and other insights into what tech businesses are doing

iii. Connections between start-ups and supporting organisations (e.g. accelerators, funders, incubators)

iv. Connections between start-ups or high-growth firms and economic growth or innovation

Deadline: Monday 4th March 2013, 09:00am GMT

We would expect projects to be substantially complete by 31 March 2014, but are willing to consider exceptions where this would improve the research.

For further information go to: http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/ITTDatascienceinnovationgrowthgrants2.pdf

 

 

 

Engineering for Growth campaign to show the value of engineering to the economy and society

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The Royal Academy of Engineering has launched its Engineering for Growth campaign with a collection of activities to stimulate entrepreneurship and a report highlighting the £481bn contribution engineering makes to the UK economy.

Engineering for Growth will be a major theme for the Academy in 2013. It will demonstrate the economic impact and societal benefits delivered by engineering and provide the focus for specific activities designed to drive business innovation.

“Engineering for Growth is aligned with both our advocacy and operational activities,” says Sir John Parker GBE FREng, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

“Engineering already makes up at least 28% of the UK economy and employs over 5.4 million people. It will need to play an even greater role as we rebalance and deliver growth in the economy. We will continue to highlight the huge benefits of investing in innovation and relevant skills as well running our own programmes in support of stimulating economic activity.”

Sir Roger Carr, President of the CBI, says: “The UK economy can only grow if it has the ability to turn innovative ideas into dynamic products and services. Engineering for Growth highlights the vital role engineering will need to play if we are to achieve this and maintain our place as a global economic power.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable says: “Engineering is central to building a stronger economy, which is why skills are such an important part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. Engineers contribute widely to many areas of the economy; their understanding of technology and the opportunities it brings is helping drive up competitiveness across many sectors. Engineering for Growth activities will certainly play their part in supporting our ambitions to support talent-growth in the sector.

“We strongly support the Royal Academy of Engineering’s work to help young, highly-skilled engineers to develop entrepreneurial skills to take technologies to market. Small businesses are an important part of an agile economy, and having entrepreneurism as well as technical knowledge of the sector is essential to ensure success.”

The Academy’s Engineering for Growth campaign is available from: www.engineeringforgrowth.org.uk

Later this spring the Academy will launch the Enterprise Hub, a new business resource that will see a large number of Academy Fellows mentoring new engineering and technology start-ups.

As part of the Hub’s activities, the Academy aims to build on its Engineering Enterprise Fellowships programme, which enables entrepreneurial academics to spend a year starting a business.

The Academy also aims to build a new programme that will take ‘the best of the best’ early stage companies and provide them with a long term package of mentoring, training and bespoke support.

The Academy will continue to fund over 130 Researchers and build crucial links between industry and academia – providing the lifeblood for innovation in the UK.

Founded in 1976, the Royal Academy of Engineering promotes the engineering and technological welfare of the country. The fellowship – comprising the UK’s most eminent engineers – provides the leadership and expertise for the activities, which focus on the relationships between engineering, technology, and the quality of life. As a national academy, it provides independent and impartial advice to Government; work to secure the next generation of engineers; and provide a voice for Britain’s engineering community. http://www.raeng.org.uk/

ESRC Future of the UK and Scotland Project

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Advance notice is given that the ESRC expects to publish, on 15 January 2013, a call for proposals for an investment in research on the impacts of both the process and outcomes of the Scottish independence referendum.

Research topics will be wide-ranging and are likely to include the wider implications of independence and/or continuing devolution of powers for the rest of UK, Scotland’s finances, continuing constitutional and legislative change, and the future shape of Scottish society (including demographic issues).

It is therefore expected that the call will be for a ‘Hub and Spoke’ Centre or Research Network (although innovative alternative arrangements will be considered), with a two year programme of work, costed at up to £2 million (at 80 per cent FEC).

Please note: applications will be acceptable from any Research Organisation eligible to hold ESRC funds, across the UK.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/24499/latest-opportunity-11.aspx