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British Companies Challenged to Develop Healthcare and Defence Technologies
Wed 29th Apr 2009
British Companies Challenged to Develop Healthcare and Defence Technologies
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New £100 million development programme throws down the gauntlet to innovative companies.
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British companies to be offered product development contracts with public sector organisations.
British companies are to be supported to develop new products and services in diverse areas such as health, defence, transport and construction through a novel £100 million government scheme.
Through the scheme, called SBRI – the Small Business Research Initiative – public sector organisations will invite British companies to submit ideas and develop new technologies – which the public sector organisation could then buy to help improve public services.
Explaining the aim of SBRI, its head, Mark Glover, said: "Its all about solving problems using clever new thinking. There are lots of novel and exciting ideas out there and SBRI enables the public sector to seek out these innovative ideas and then support turning them into commercial, viable products and services."
"Everyone benefits" Mark Glover added, "The business develops a highly commercial and valuable new product, the public sector organisation finds a product that helps it solve a problem and meets its needs. And, of course, we all benefit from improved services."
A trial of the scheme was run by the Department of Health in 2008. Companies were invited to develop technologies and systems to improve hand hygiene, in order to reduce the number of infections – such as MRSA – contracted in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries.
The most promising ideas will be developed into prototypes, which may then result in the product or service being bought for use by hospitals and surgeries.
The Department of Health plans to fund new SBRI competitions in other areas where new technology may help improve public services, while the East of England Strategic Health Authority is launching three new SBRI competitions this month, focussing on technologies to help manage patients with long term conditions, technologies that enable better patient monitoring and technologies to encourage children to take more exercise.
For the complete press release click the following PDF link: