Innovative new technology
sought to improve disaster management and ease traffic congestion
TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
BOARD News Release issued by The Government News Network on 5
February 2008
Disaster
mitigation and response, traffic management, road maintenance and
pollution monitoring are some of the diverse areas set to benefit
from £10 million investment in research and development by the
Technology Strategy Board.
The collection of data from a wide range of sources underpins
many applications including traffic management, healthcare,
pollution monitoring and building management. Environments that
are large-scale, high-density, harsh or unstable make data
gathering particularly challenging. Without up-to-date and
reliable data, it is difficult to understand or predict the
dynamics of the environment. The government-funded Technology
Strategy Board is to invest £10 million to encourage British
companies to research and develop innovative data-gathering
technologies that could be rapidly configured and deployed by
users such as the police, fire and rescue services, local
authorities, utility companies and many others.
Explaining why the Technology Strategy Board is investing in this
area, Chief Executive Iain Gray said: "The ability to gather
information in complex or difficult environments is vital for
organisations such as the emergency services, transport
authorities and power companies. Many UK companies have
particular strengths in sensing, instrumentation and imaging
technologies, and in telecommunications and intelligent systems.
Bringing this expertise together would give the UK the capability
to offer complete tracking and monitoring solutions, and to
exploit the worldwide demand for such technology."
The Technology Strategy Board believes that innovative
data-gathering technology would improve operating efficiency in
many industry and service sectors, such as:
* Air, water and soil management;
* Control and security of
utility supply;
* Traffic management;
* Road and rail
infrastructure maintenance;
* Buildings maintenance and
management;
* Health monitoring of patients in
ambulances;
* Pollution monitoring;
* Monitoring and
maintenance of civil engineering works;
* Instrumentation and
control in vehicles and planes.
* Cultural Heritage:
environmental management of historic buildings, collections,
sites and landscapes.
The Gathering Data in Complex Environment funding competition -
part of the Technology Strategy Board's autumn 2007 call for
proposals in a number of innovation and technology areas - will
stimulate UK companies to develop technologies that can be used
successfully in challenging environments to gather data that
currently cannot be gathered. The investment will help to
accelerate development, bringing the technologies quickly and cost
effectively to market.
The Technology Strategy Board's investment will provide
partial funding for winning projects that involve businesses
working collaboratively with other businesses and/or with research
organisations and academic institutions.
Applicants must register their intention to apply for funding,
and submit an outline of their proposal, by 4 April 2008 and the
final closing date for applications is 8 May 2008. Further
information is available at http://www.technologyprogramme.org.uk
Notes to Editors
The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive
non-departmental public body, established by the government. Its
mission is to promote and support research into, and development
and exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of
UK business, in order to increase economic growth and improve the
quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department of Innovation,
Universities and Skills (DIUS).
The Technology Strategy Board's Collaborative Research and
Development Programme is investing directly in new and emerging
technologies and has been designed to help businesses work with
each other or with academic partners to develop technologies that
will underpin products and services of the future. Since 2004, the
programme has supported about 700 projects across 40 technology
areas with a combined business and government investment worth
over £1 billion.
On 8 November 2007 the Technology Strategy Board announced a new
competition for proposals for collaborative research and
development, representing a Government investment of around £100
million. The competition is designed to generate innovative
proposals in which the business and research communities
collaborate on research and technology projects to deliver
successful new products and services. Submissions have been
invited in eight technology areas: Cell Therapy, Material for
Energy and High Value Manufacturing (opened 8 November 2007), Low
Carbon Energy Technologies, Advanced Lighting, Lasers &
Displays and Technologies for Health (opened 19 December 2007),
Gathering Data in Complex Environments and Creative Industries
(opening 30 January 2008).
For further information about the Technology Strategy Board
please visit http://www.innovateuk.org
Issued by
Nick Sheppard
Media Relations
Manager
Technology Strategy Board
Block B, North Star
House
North Star Avenue
Swindon
SN2 1JF