Collaboration Nation 2015: innovative companies at showcase event

15 Oct 2015 03:46 PM

This year's annual Collaboration Nation event gave small businesses the chance to show their ideas to potential partners and investors.

Collaboration Nation 2015 featured many of the small companies that Innovate UK has supported this year. They have each won a share of the £2 million that Innovate UK has invested in feasibility studies for new technologies.

Collaboration Nation helps connect innovators with the right partners they need to succeed. These companies can pitch their innovations to organisations that could help them get their ideas closer to market. They are also able to vote on the best pitches throughout the event.

Each of these businesses has used Innovate UK funding to carry out a feasibility study in one of 4 technology areas:

• advanced materials
• biosciences
• electronics, sensors and photonics
• information and communications technology

These competitions for feasibility funding allow the companies to de-risk early-stage technology. It also helps them exploit their innovations so that they can grow their businesses. Among the businesses at this year’s Collaboration Nation:

• Applied Nanodetectors – investigating the fabrication of inkjet SERS sensors to detect bacteria in sputum samples for the early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• iProov - delivers easy-to-use online authentication using face verification
• Things3D – the T3D UltraScan is a collapsible, pop-up style, accurate full body low-cost 3D scanner

Read this year’s directory of feasibility studies projects that Innovate UK has funded