Small Businesses Research Initiative (SBRI)
Competitions for new technologies and ideas are run on specific topics and aim to engage a broad range of organisations.
It can be hard for companies to access government departments, or for the public sector to discover businesses with the most innovative products and ideas. We champion the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) which matches business ideas to government challenges through a simple procurement process.
The process starts with a government department or other public body identifying a specific challenge. This is then turned into an open competition for new technologies and ideas that is open to the broad business community. We support all competitions and help with the outreach to innovative businesses.
Companies with potentially interesting technologies and ideas submit an application, either through the Technology Strategy Board or direct to the department, depending on the competition.
Any organisation can submit an application, although it is expected that SBRI opportunities will be particularly attractive for SMEs. SBRI is aimed at organisations working on the development of an innovative process, material, device, product or service. Successful applications will be those whose technology best addresses the specific needs identified, with the potential to make a measurable improvement to currently available products, processes materials, devices or services.
For a list of current competitions: http://www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/smallbusinessresearchinitiative/competitions.ashx
For more information about SBRI: http://www.innovateuk.org/deliveringinnovation/smallbusinessresearchinitiative.ashx
