Innovate UK: Difference between revisions

The Technology Strategy Board is a UK public body operating at arm's length from the Government reporting to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The Technology Strategy Board has its roots as an advisory body within the former UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) established in 2004, before becoming an independent body in July 2007 after the reorganisation of the DTI into the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) under Brown's government.

The original DTI organisation had its roots in the Innovation Review published by the DTI in December 2003 and the Lambert Review. This reconfigured the major funding mechanism as the Collaborative Research and Development Technology Programme, transformed the pre-existing Faraday Partnerships into Knowledge Transfer Networks, renamed the Teaching Company Scheme as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and set up an Advisory Board made up of 12 people from business, venture capital and regional government. These changes all took place in 2004 - with the Advisory Board being appointed in October of that year.

In the 2006 Budget Gordon Brown announced the intention to set up the Technology Strategy Board as a "non-departmental public body" operating at "arm's length" from the UK Government. It was decided to locate the new organisation in Swindon, and to recruit a team primarily with business experience.

It is based in Swindon in the same site as most research councils, and the UK Space Agency. It works closely with research councils, but from a more commercial angle, less blue sky, and also with regional development agencies (disbanded) who each have a Science and Industry Council.

The governing board includes

• Anne Glover
• Dr David Grant, Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University
• Jonathan Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum
• Sara Murray
• Prof Christopher Snowden, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey

It has developed the Innovation Platforms - programmes which harness the activities government departments use to address societal challenges to stimulate innovative solutions within UK businesses.

It coordinates nano technology centres,^[1] and technology and innovation centres. It runs the Small Business Research Initiative.

The 2010 coalition budget announced that Innovation activity would transfer from regional development agencies to the TSB, including the Grant for Research & Development and Innovation Vouchers.^[2]

A UK-wide ultra low carbon vehicle demonstrator programme, where over 340 vehicles will be trialled and provide data for future vehicle innovation. Some of the cars are

• Ecotricity's Nemesis
• Mercedez Benz's Smart fortwo electric drive
• Mitsubishi's i-Miev
• BMW's Mini E
• Liberty E-Range Range Rover

It runs the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network for companies in materials science. It also runs the Collaborative Research and Development (CR&D), Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTN) and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) programmes.

It has developed an online collaboration platform,_connect, where members of the Knowledge Transfer Networks and other groups concerned with innovation can meet, share information and collaborate.

Ford battery electric vehicle (BEV) demonstrators are included in a British project that is part of the UK government's zero carbon vehicle fleet of Ford Focus BEVs. The BEV demonstrator fleet is being developed partly with public funding from the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board ^[3][4]

Initial Network Security Innovation Platform (NSIP) ^[5] work addressed looked at the areas of Human Factors in security, Privacy and consent within Information systems and Information Infrastructure Protection. Approximately £13.5 million has been allocated to these collaborative research and development projects. The NSIP also created the Secure Software Development Partnership (SSDP) in conjunction with Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) in October 2009. In summer 2010 the NSIP was merged into the newly formed Digital team effectively ending the Technology Strategy Boards involvement in information security.

Projects it has funded include:

• InView Unmanned Aircraft System

• EngineeringUK
• Foundation for Science and Technology
• Institution of Engineering and Technology
• Institute of Knowledge Transfer
• NESTA

• Technology Strategy Board
• Technology Strategy Board Innovation Platform
• Technology Strategy Board Innovation Vouchers