KTN Digital and Creative Business Briefing August 2019 with information on events, funding and support initiatives for innovative UK based digital businesses

1. Digital
& Creative Business Briefing
August 2019

2. Content
• Feature
• Funding competitions
• Support programmes
• Training and Awards
• Investors Directory
• Networks
• Upcoming events
• Register for updates

3. Feature
AI for Services - networking opportunity
Join AI For Services (aiforservices.org): A UK wide network bringing together Data and Artificial Intelligence businesses and
academics with professionals working in the high value service sectors of legal, accountancy insurance and finance. This is a
free membership to stay up to date with the innovation happening in the sector, connect with academic, industry experts and
ambitious high growth entrepreneurs, and join insightful events.
READ MORE

4. Feature
Geospacial Insights : Stimulating cross sector innovation - networking opportunity
The world is powered by data; turning data into information helps us make decisions across all sectors of the economy. This
special interest group is all about connecting the data holders and data processors with the people that can benefit from the
insight geospatial data can provide. From the large imagery data sets provided by earth observation through to sensor data
connected through the Internet of Things, the SIG will convene and connect people across sectors to help them identify and
overcome their geospatial data challenges and create opportunities to drive economic growth.
READ MORE

5. Funding
Innovate UK Innovation Loans : Summer 2019
Deadline: 11th
September
Innovate UK is offering up to £10 million in loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Loans are for highly
innovative late stage projects with the best game changing and/or disruptive ideas or concepts. There should be a clear route to
commercialisation and economic impact.
Projects should aim to develop new products, processes or services (or innovative use of existing ones) believed to be significantly
ahead of anything similar in the field . Your proposal can come from any technology and any part of the economy.
Projects must focus on commercialisation, growth or scale up. Priority is given to proposals likely to lead to growth and gains in
productivity. Projects should last up to 5 years, of which up to 3 years can focus on late stage research and development (R&D),
and up to 2 more years on establishing a clear route to commercial success. Loan repayments will be required over a further
period of up to 5 years.
READ MORE

6. Funding
Innovate UK Smart Grants: Summer 2019
Deadline: 16th
October
Smart is the new name for Innovate UK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will
invest up to £25 million in the best game-changing, innovative or disruptive ideas with a view to commercialisation.
This competition provides funding for innovative research and development (R&D) from feasibility (including market research),
through to technology or prototype testing and development stages up to (but not including) commercialisation.
All proposals must be business focused, rather than pure research. Applications can come from any area of technology (including
arts, design, media or creative industries), science or engineering and be applied to any part of the economy.
READ MORE

7. Funding
Manufacturing made smarter: round 1 (fast start)
Deadline: 28th August 2019
The Industry Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) will invest up to £30 million in projects that focus on the use of industrial digital
technologies (IDTs) to transform the productivity and agility of UK manufacturing. The challenge will support innovation and
deployment of IDTs across industry sectors via cross-sector collaboration and learning.
We welcome a variety of project types, from feasibility studies to large innovation and/or demonstrator projects.
Projects must be able to achieve rapid technology development and deployment
Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £250,000 and £10 million.
READ MORE

8. Funding
Enabling Data Access in Accountancy, Insurance and Legal Services: Innovation Lab
Deadline: noon, 4th September
UKRI/ Innovate UK has just launched a new funding competition as part of the Industrial Strategy Next Generation Services
Challenge: Up to £3.5 million will be awarded to projects developing data access methods to enable the application of
artificial intelligence (AI) and data technologies in the accountancy, insurance and legal services sector.
This is a two stage competition:
First, individuals can submit an Expression of Interest to join a 3 day Innovation Lab on behalf of their organisation (14th-
16th October) and 4 weeks after the Lab, the project consortia will be required to submit their proposals for assessment.
READ MORE

9. Funding
EUREKA: Singapore open competition
Deadline: 19th
September
EUREKA, in partnership with Enterprise Singapore, announce a Global Stars funding competition for research and
development (R&D) projects under the EUREKA programme.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing £1 million to fund UK businesses leading collaborative
research and development (R&D) projects.
Projects should result in a new product, industrial process or service, be innovative and involve a technological risk.
Projects must be co-ordinated by a lead partner from the UK and a lead partner from Singapore. Partners from each
additional country should also nominate a lead from that country.
READ MORE

10. Support Programmes
The ScaleUp Accellerator
KTN supports The Accelerator Network as they launch a new high growth programme - The ScaleUp Accelerator
The ScaleUp Accelerator (TSA) is a programme designed to support the CEOs and founders of high growth companies as they
progress through the ScaleUp stage of company development and growth. This is most typically supporting companies grow from
£1m in annualised review to £10m and beyond. TSA leverages nearly a decade of expertise by The Accelerator Network team
delivering accelerator programmes and White Horse Capital’s strong connections in the VC community, with over £300m of
funding secured for accelerated startups and scaleups.
TSA is the perfect programme for CEOs and founders to address each area of their business in turn to ensure you are ready
to grow and raise Series A (VC) funding. This three month programme does this by delivering day-long sprints each week in to the
key areas of your business supported by experts and investors.
READ MORE

11. Support Programmes
Analysis for innovators round 5: phase 1 expression of interest
Deadline for Expression of Interest : 4th
September 2019
UK Businesses will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £3 million in innovation projects.
The aim of this competition is to match the best UK experts and cutting-edge facilities with companies that have analysis or
measurement problems. Your application must describe the problem and estimate the value to your company of solving it.
This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition.
Phase 1 is an expression of interest.
Phase 2 is dependent on the success of phase 1. Successful applicants in phase 1 are invited to work with A4I funding partners to
suggest joint projects to develop solutions for phase 2.
READ MORE

12. Support Programmes
Machines for Machine Intelligence
Deadline: 18th August
Machine Intelligence Garage is a programme that helps businesses access the computation power and expertise they need to
develop and build machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions.
Machine Intelligence Garage is designed to help startups with a well defined business idea and technical capability for whom
access to computation power is a barrier to growth. Successful applicants will get access to best-in-class cloud compute, hosted
hardware or UK HPC from our partners and collaborators.
Machine Intelligence Garage hosts workshops and experimentation-days to help companies of all sizes get to grips with systems
for machine intelligence. The programme is independent and provider-agnostic.
READ MORE

13. Support programmes
MSDUK
MSDUK is proud to champion the best of British ethnic minority businesses and work with progressive global corporations
that understand the value of supply chain inclusion and diversity. Since 2006, MSDU has worked with over 125 global
brands and more than 1500 EMBs, introducing hundreds of ethnic minority founders – offering them a platform to
showcase their innovative ideas, and provide them access to knowledge, investment and market to help them grow and
achieve their dreams.
READ MORE

14. Support programmes
Virgin StartUp - StepUp
StepUp is a 2-day programme designed for female founders who want to take their business to scale.
The programme includes a series of workshops and networking opportunities to help founders develop the skills and
knowledge they need in order to take their business to the next level.
We have designed StepUp to focus on the areas of business which we know founders will get the most value from; sales,
funding and investment.
Over the course of the two days, participants will hear from a host of expert speakers and entrepreneurs who have
successfully scaled their start-ups in the last few years.
READ MORE

15. Support programmes
Capital Enterprise – OneTech
OneTech supports underrepresented tech founders in London. One of our main goals is to double the number of female
and BAME-led tech start-ups raising investment through our programmes.
The programme offers a range of dedicated support for young people, including a pre-Accelerator, startup weekends and
help brokering connections between young people seeking paid internships and tech startups looking for interns.
If you’re a student looking for an internship or a young founder seeking ongoing support as you get your business off of the
ground, look no further! If you’re 18 – 24 years old, register for either branch of the support.
READ MORE

16. Support programmes
Plexal - OpenDoor
When it comes to levelling the playing field, we’re looking to the innovation community.
So if you’ve got a solution that can help boost social inclusion and make it easier for people from under-represented
groups to start a business, find work or succeed in their career, we want to help you scale.
As well as a bespoke package of support, we’ll help you get in front of largest tech companies and organisations.
Applications are open now and close at midnight on 12 July.
READ MORE

17. Support programmes
Knowledge Transfer Partnership
• The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme helps businesses in the UK to innovate and grow by linking them with
an academic or research organisation and a graduate.
• The scheme can last between 12 and 36 months, depending on what the project is and the needs of the business.
• A KTP is part-funded by a grant. You will need to contribute to the salary of the Associate who will work with your
business, plus the cost of a supervisor who will oversee the scheme.
READ MORE

18. Support programmes
SETsquared Support Programme
From idea to scale-up, SETsquared has a comprehensive range of programmes which will help boost your business to the
next level.
SETsquared is a unique enterprise partnership and a dynamic collaboration between the five leading research-led UK
universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. Twice ranked as the Global No. 1 Business Incubator, we
provide a wide range of highly acclaimed support programmes to help turn ideas into thriving businesses.
READ MORE

19. Support programmes
Start-Up Campus Global
Start-up Campus is a decentralised global incubator with several interlaced locations that help to accelerate the global
expansion process of start-ups and to create a close connection with the ecosystems. We believe in the importance of
quality control, and thus remain selective when including start-ups to our portfolio.
”OUR MISSION IS TO BUILD BRIDGES BETWEEN COUNTRIES, MARKETS AND INTERNATIONAL STARTUP ECOSYSTEMS.”
Through working with many startups over the years, we have found, that one of their biggest problems is global expansion.
They are unsure about the: HOW? WHEN? WHERE? Therefore, there is a significant demand for a service that provides
professional help with global expansion and can guarantee a local presence for the start-ups. Soft-landing programmes and
business development tours encourage the international market entry of start-ups.
READ MORE

20. Support programmes
Westcott Business Incubation Centre support programmes
The Westcott Business Incubation Centre (BIC) is located on the Westcott Venture Park, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Our mission is to encourage the development of new companies working in the strategic growth areas of rocket
propulsion, 5G communications, drones and other autonomous systems.
You can find out more about our focus areas
Westcott is already home to a thriving nucleus of space companies. The Westcott BIC will work together with existing
expertise on the site and other planned investments, including the UK Space Agency’s National Propulsion Test
Centre, Reaction Engines’ rocket engine test facility, the Westcott 5G Step-out Centre and the Westcott Innovation Centre.
The Westcott BIC is funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)and developed by the Satellite
Applications Catapult, Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust and Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise
Partnership (BTVLEP).
READ MORE

21. Investment
Private Investment Directory – Digital Refer
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
LINK

22. Networks: Immerse UK
• Augmented and Virtual Reality Independent Network
• Bringing together businesses, public sector & research
• Free to Join
• Learn more about Immersive Tech developments
• Help shape UK funding & research policy
• Showcase your ideas & identify funding opportunities
• Make business connections & form collaborative partnerships
http://www.immerseuk.org/

23. Networks: UK5G
https://uk5g.org/
• Promotion of research, collaboration and the commercial application of 5G in the UK
• Share the knowledge and lessons of 5G Testbeds & Trials projects
• Enable new partnerships between technologists, potential new entrants and major industrial adopters
• Support local (and international) investment opportunities
• Collaboration Exchange : https://uk5g.org/connect/collaborate/

24. Upcoming events
WEBCAST: H2020 Briefing Webinar on the 2020
Digital Health Calls
7th August
Analysis for Innovators (A4I) Round 5 Roadshow -
Manchester
8th August
5G Celtic Funding Briefing Event
20th August, London
Digital Business Meet-up: Artificial Intelligence
5th September, London
MSDUK 2019 Conference
17th – 18th September, London
Women in Innovation: Building Success in the North
24th
September
TechDay London
25th
October, London
Keep up-to-date with KTN events here

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