A monthly round-up of useful information for UK businesses seeking business support. www.ktn-uk.org

1. Creative, Digital and Design
Business Briefing
August 2018

2. Contents
Main feature
Innovate UK funding calls
Funding competitions
Support programmes
Upcoming events
Investments
Latest news
Register for updates

4. Main feature
5G is coming – get your organisation ahead of the curve
The roll out of 5G starts in 2020; that’s just 1 ½ years away. It will impact on all
industries.
It’ll bring improved speed, bandwidth and connectivity and will offer enhanced security.
It’ll open the door for new types of connected products and services.
Are you ready? Sign up to www.uk5G.org to find out more.
READ MORE

5. Funding
Open grant funding competition round 2
Innovate UK as part of UK Research and Innovation
Opened: 12 July
Closes: 12 September
An investment of up to £20m in the best cutting-edge or disruptive ideas
or concepts with a view to commercialisation. Applications can come from
any sector and be applied to any part of the economy. They must be
business focused rather than pure research.
READ MORE

6. Funding
Increase productivity, performance and quality in UK construction
Innovate UK as part of UK Research and Innovation
Opened: 23 July
Closes: 19 September
An investment of up to £12.5 million in innovative projects to transform the
UK construction sector. The aim of this competition is to invest in solutions to
improve productivity, quality and performance of the UK construction sector.
READ MORE

7. Funding
Design Foundations Round 3
Innovate UK as part of UK Research and Innovation
Opens: 13 August
Closes: 19 September
An investment of up to £1 million in early-stage, human-centred design
projects. These projects will help businesses identify high-value innovation
opportunities and generate ideas for new products, services or business
models that align with customer demand.
READ MORE

8. Funding
Women in Innovation Awards 2018
Innovate UK as part of UK Research and Innovation
Opened: 30 July
Closes: 3 October
UK business women can apply for one of 8 Women in Innovation Awards: £50,000
funding each and a bespoke package of mentoring, coaching and business support.
Applicants must be confident, with the support of an award, that they can make a
significant contribution to one of the Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges.
READ MORE

9. Funding
Transforming accountancy, insurance and legal services with AI and data
(small projects strand)
UK Research and Innovation
Opened: 18 June
Closes: 15 August
An investment of up to £12m in innovation projects to support the development
of artificial intelligence and data technology in accountancy, insurance and legal
services.
READ MORE

10. Funding
Transforming accountancy, insurance and legal services with AI and data
(large consortia strand)
UK Research and Innovation
Opened: 18 June
Closes: 15 August
An investment of up to £12m in innovation projects to support the development
of artificial intelligence and data technology in accountancy, insurance and legal
services.
READ MORE

11. Funding
SBRI: Higher education open data, digital tools for prospective students
Department for Education
Opened: 25 June
Closes: 8 August
Up to £25,000 is available to develop digital tools using graduate data and
outcomes data to help prospective higher education students make decisions.
READ MORE

12. Funding
Meridian 2: connected vehicles data exchange
Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV)
Opened: 4 June
Closes: 29 August
Up to £5m is available to develop platforms for the exchange of connected vehicles
data. The aim is to create the world’s most effective CAV testing ecosystem.
READ MORE

13. Funding
Meridian 3: autonomous highway, rural and parking test facilities
Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV)
Opened: 4 June
Closes: 29 August
Up to £25m is available to develop CAV testing infrastructure for autonomous
parking and autonomous driving on rural roads and highways.
READ MORE

14. Funding
Business basics: boosting SME productivity
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Opened: 26 June
Closes: 4 September
The government has announced the Business Basics programme within its Industrial
Strategy. Up to £2m is available to test innovative ways of encouraging micro and SMEs
to adopt existing technologies and business practices that can boost their productivity.
Two strands of funding are running - proof of concept and a full-scale trial.
READ MORE

15. Funding
Connected and autonomous vehicles 4: piloting passenger services
Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV)
Opened: 25 June
Closes: 19 September
A share of up to £25m is available for industry-led collaborative research and
development projects that develop and then pilot CAV services at scale in a UK setting.
READ MORE

16. Funding
Defence and Security Accelerator: open call for innovation
Defence and Security Accelerator
Opened: 19 March 2018
Closes: 1 March 2019
The open call is looking for innovative ideas to improve the defence and security of the
UK. These could be a concept, technology, product or service. The aim is to find novel
opportunities to be exploited across the defence and security sectors.
READ MORE

17. Support programmes
Female Founders Accelerators
Hatch Enterprise
Open now
Closes: 15 August
A selective 4-month programme to help female-lead businesses scale their venture,
achieve a better market-fit and reach their professional goals. The programmes value is
over £5000 and participants are asked to pay a contribution of £1800.
READ MORE

18. Support programmes
FAB Accelerator - Oxford
FAB Accelerator
Open now
Closes: 16 August
FAB is open to any individual or team with a high growth, entrepreneurial business idea
or a high-impact social venture - from tech to retail and anything in-between. The cost
for the full 12-week course is £750 for individual founders with an extra £375 for each
additional co-founder.
READ MORE

19. Support programmes
Collider GB accelerator programme Mad Tech
Collider UK
Open now
Closes: 26 August
This accelerator programme is for SEIS and EIS ready marketing, advertising and
commerce tech startups. £35,000 net investment is available for early stage companies,
and £70,000 net investment for later stage companies, as well as a six month coaching
programme.
READ MORE

20. Support programmes
Geovation Programme - PropTech and Geo Tech
Geovation
Opened: 16 July
Closes: 27 August
Programmes are especially, though not exclusively, geared for those entering the
geolocation market-place for the first time. Both the GeoTech and PropTech Programmes
take you through four phases over the course of 12 months, with at least six months of
focused support, including financial support from day one with up to £20,000 grant funding.
READ MORE

21. Upcoming events
Women in Innovation Awards 2018
Competition Briefing
7 August, London
Women in Innovation Awards 2018
Competition Briefing
7 August, 10:30-12:50 Webinar
Design Foundations Round 3 Competition
Briefing
14 August, London
Design Foundations Round 3 Competition
Briefing
16 August, Manchester
Design Foundations Round 3 Competition
21 August, 14:00-15:00 Webinar
Digital Business Meet-Up
6 September, London
TechInvest: FinTech
28 September, London
Gov-tech Conference: Connecting Innovation
9 October, London

22. Upcoming events
Additive Manufacturing on a small scale and
Emerging Trends in AM
16 October, Birmingham
Keep up-to-date with KTN events here

23. Investment
Private Investment Directory
Digital Refer now includes more than 250 organisations that provide private
investment to digital and creative businesses in the UK including:
• Accelerator programmes
• Business incubators
• Start-up studios
• Venture Capital funds
• Angel investor networks
• Corporate Venture Capital firm
READ MORE

24. Latest news
Bring a new perspective to your company's
challenge with the AIMday Big Data, AI and
the One Health Agenda
AIMday is a unique opportunity for academic
scientists and organisations to make contacts
and exchange knowledge.
READ MORE

25. Latest news
Can you help develop responsive rural
community connections?
Combatting loneliness with solutions that
enable communities to help each other in
digitally and transport deprived areas.
READ MORE

26. Latest news
Making Virtual a reality for UK
manufacturing
The Immersive Technologies in Manufacturing
Report, explores how these immersive tools
are currently being used in across a range of
sectors.
READ MORE

27. Latest news
Pitchfest 2018 Autumn Edition
Pitchfest 2018 is a highly focused training and
showcase programme designed to help
business founders pitch their ventures.
READ MORE

28. KTN Digital Marketing
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