An innovation fund aimed at boosting developments in data-driven decision-making technologies has been launched at the University of Strathclyde.
Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin announced the £3 million Defence and Security Accelerator competition at the inaugural Maritime Enterprise Innovation Scotland Conference, in the University’s Technology & Innovation Centre.
Ms Baldwin said:
The Defence Innovation Initiative and £800 million Defence Innovation Fund aim to encourage imagination, ingenuity and entrepreneurship, in pursuit of maintaining a military advantage in the future.
“This Innovation Challenge calls for innovators to develop new technologies to improve the UK’s ability to analyse and exploit data in order to inform decision-making.
“With a rising Defence budget, and a £178 billion equipment plan, our commitment to collaboration will deliver a safer and more prosperous Britain.”
The University’s Professor Graham Wren added:
The drive to widen the engagement with SMEs is particularly welcome and has been an important theme of Strathclyde’s own industrial engagement theme.
“As a leading international technological institution, we are pleased to be helping the Royal Navy and colleagues in SE access leading research and innovation from a wider Scottish and UK academic and industrial base.”
This £3m Accelerator competition, backed by the Ministry of Defence’s £800 million innovation fund, is looking for new technologies, processes and ways of working to improve the analysis and exploitation of data in order to inform decision-making. Projects are expected to last up to six months, and initial results need to be delivered to Defence by November 2017.
Source: Innovation fund launched at Strathclyde – University of Strathclyde
