Helping UK businesses innovate faster

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas.

We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth.

We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation.

For more information visit innovateuk.ukri.org

© Innovate UK part of UK Research and Innovation April 2018 18.1129.018

Telephone: 01793 361000 Email: support@innovateuk.ukri.org www.innovateuk.ukri.org

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Core fundingfor centres

Clean growth and infrastructure:

helping business meet the challenges

mixed grant & venture capital

projects received

with Shanghaiand Jiangsu

joint projects

More than£300millionfor futureISCF projects

missions2015

invested in2017/2018

More than £115 million

supported in

innovative projects

2017/2018

for ‘first of a kind’ trials

£27million

since

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Introduction 4

How we drive innovation 6

Trialling technology 8in the real world

Tackling the 10energy ‘trilemma’

Innovation is for all 12

Supporting o�shore 13wind energy

Working with 14partners overseas

Helping business meet 16public sector challenges

Helping business 18to find investors

Catapults are transforming 19UK capability

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successes of just a few of the businesses we have supported over the last few years.

Investing £1.7billion in research and development

We will be playing a big partin delivering the IndustrialStrategy Challenge Fund (ISCF)over the next 4 years, a £1.7billion investment in research and development that will helpUK businesses to meet someof the biggest challenges facingthe economy.

It is a key part of the government’s new industrialstrategy, which sets 4 grand challenges for the UK.

One of those grand challengesis clean growth – maximisingthe advantages for UK industry from the global shift to clean growth.

A number of specific ISCF challenges come under this banner, and we will be supporting them with funding competitions and with eventsto help businesses and other organisations to come together to tackle the challenges.

Prospering from theenergy revolution

Up to £41.5 million is already available to develop smart local energy systems that supportthe global shift to clean energy. Watch out for funding competitions in areas such as development of smart energy systems and local demonstrators, and for announcements on more funding.

Transforming construction

Up to £170 million is availableto more quickly provide safer, healthier and more a�ordable places to live and learn thatuse dramatically less energy.This challenge will bring together the construction, manufacturing, energy and digital sectors to revolutionise how we deliverthe buildings the UK needs.

Transforming food production

Up to £90 million is availableto help businesses and researchers to change the way we produce food through the adoption of new technologies and innovation.

Enterprise Europe Network, which helps innovative small businesses to access new markets and funding.

We have joined with the7 research councils to formthe Urban Living Partnership.It supports businesses, academics and city governments in coming together to apply a ‘whole city’ approach to the challenges faced by urban areas. The partnership has supported pilot projects in Bristol, Newcastle, Leeds, York and Birmingham.

Our work creates jobs and growth

We see the results of oursupport in increasedemployment, business growth,new contracts, partnershipswith overseas business, andstronger networks. Widerbenefits include working towards making our cities better places to live and work, making our energy supplies secure, clean and a�ordable, and ensuring our infrastructure is resilient and fit for the future.

The following pages outlineopportunities available tobusiness and highlight the

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We supportbusinessinnovation

We support risky business innovation that has high-growth potential and can transform our essential infrastructure.

Last year, we invested more than £115 million in innovative projects in the fields of clean growth and infrastructure andin core funding for O�shore Renewable Energy, Future Cities, Energy Systems and Transport Systems Catapults and other centres.

Our support aims to drive business innovation and help organisations to test and deploy potential solutions to the challenges they face. We also bring people together to address the challenges both across the UK and between the UK and overseas including partners in Asia, North and South America and Europe.

Our Knowledge Transfer Network helps to bring together people with an interest in innovation and has special interest groups in the areas we support. We also co-fund the

IntroductionInnovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation and works with people, companies, and partner organisations tofind and drive the science and technology innovations thatwill grow the UK economy.

Our aim is to support forward-thinking UK companies to scale and grow by developing the technologies that will address challenges such as population growth, urbanisation, digitisation, and threats to the environment.

We recognise the challenges businesses and public services face to innovate. It is not easyto integrate complex and disparate systems, adapt to technological and societal change, and develop the new business models required to deliver novel services. That iswhy we are here to help.

The UK has cut its emissionsby 42 per cent since 1990and grown its economyby two-thirds in the sametimeframe. Cutting carbon emissions should not be seenas a tradeo� with economic growth. Developing clean energy, more e cient waysof travelling, better urban systems for our towns and cities, and smarterinfrastructure are all wayswe can drive economic growth for the UK.

42%reduction in carbonemissions since 1990 and a 66% growthin UK economy

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We took SMEs on a future cities mission to Australia

How wedrive innovationOur work in clean growth and infrastructure helpsto build new energy, infrastructure, connected transport and urban systems to meet societal challenges. We support businesses on innovative projects that are risky buthave the potential to support UK economic growth and have a transformative e�ecton society.

Our priority areas for support in the sector competitions were:

• energy systems and energy supply

• connected transport

• urban living

• smart and resilient infrastructure

We have run 4 funding competitions and provided businesses with access to£54.5 million in funding support, matched by industry. We funded 100 innovative projects in the first 3 rounds.

The first innovation loan pilot was worth £10 million andwas targeted at infrastructure systems. This gave small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working on late-stage infrastructure systems projects the first opportunity to access Innovate UK’s new alternative financial support scheme.

Check here for the latest Innovate UK funding opportunities https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.ukcompetition/search

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Verv:Putting the 'smart'in smart home

Data scientists Verv won £68,000 to investigate their idea to use their machine learning algorithms and expertise in electricity data to modernise fault detection and the repairof large household appliances such as washing machines.

The average UK household disposes of £800 worth of electrical devices and appliances each year. It is believed that 40% of them could be repaired, but the cost of repair often exceeds the cost of replacement.

Verv, formed out of Green Running, recently raised£1.2 million on Crowdcubeto allow it to scale up manufacturing of its smart home hub, which will identify appliances that are deteriorating before they break and even provide details about where appliance faults lie.

The Verv hub is also being developed to enable customers to trade their excess renewable energy directly with their neighbours at an a�ordable cost, thus improving accessto green energy.

4sector competitionswith access to £54.5 millionof funding support

138innovative projects funded

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nquiringminds:Revolutionising home care

Smart cities and data analytics tech company, nquiringminds,is leading a £1.5 million projectto develop CareTeam – an innovative way to provide care in the home using data and linking carers and family through a secure data analytics platform and mobile app.

Financial pressures and growing demand are placing a huge strain on home care servicesin the UK.

nquiringminds is working with the University of Southampton and Southampton City Councilto develop a social platformthat improves e�ciency by integrating unpaid and voluntary care with state and self-funded care.

“We’re on a mission to make homes smarter and more e�cient. We aimto reduce the environmental impact and energy bills of every home by tackling energyat its core.”Peter Davies chief executiveGreen Running

It also commissions care in smaller packages so that more services can be provided more e�ectively and a better relationship can be formed between the carer and the cared-for.

Three other local authoritiesare in discussions to roll outthe CareTeam platform fortheir residents.

“Sharing data between citizensand organisations,in a privacy centric way, will be keyto getting the community fully involved in tackling the crisis in home care services.”Nick Allottchief executivenquiringminds

Lynkeos Technology is triallingits state-of-the-art 3D Muon Imaging System at the National Nuclear Laboratory facilityat Sellafield.

There is a growing amountof nuclear waste stored globally in secure drums. Conventional technologies such as X-rays cannot be used to monitorthe insides of these shielded containers.

The Muon Imaging System is a non-invasive imaging technology. It uses naturally occurring and highly penetrating charged particles called muons to identifydi�erent materials such as uranium and concrete basedon their density. It uses naturally occurring and highly penetrating charged particles called muons to identify di�erent materials such as uranium and concrete based on their density. It is ideal for monitoring the state of nuclear waste in shielded containers.

“There is no alternative technology that provides a similar imaging capability. Decommissioningof nuclear waste and establishments will cost over £80 billion in the UK alone.Our technology will be able to support this e�ort by improving safety and by o�ering significant cost and time savings.”Professor Ralf Kaiserchief executiveLynkeos Technology

Lynkeos Technology:Safer andcheaper nuclear decommissioning

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Vivacity Labs:Combatting congestion

Video analytics expert Vivacity Labs is trialling a city-wide transport sensor system inMilton Keynes.

The system uses video and latest technology to accurately detect, analyse and predict tra�c movement. It can gather and analyse data on how busya city is including data on public transport, roads, pedestrians, cycling areas, and car parking, and deliver it in real time.

Mark Nicholson, chief executive of Vivacity Labs, said:

“We have built a hugely detailed understanding of dynamic tra�c demands in Milton Keynes.We understand how tra�c accidents redistribute tra�c across the network and we are using this insight and real-time knowledge of the network to create the world’s first proactive urban tra�c management system.

“We are now pushing our system into other areas around the UK and beyond. Recent projects have started in Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester.”Mark Nicholsonchief executiveVivacity Labs

Projects supportedby Innovate UK’s clean growth and infrastructure team have been trialling their technologies in real-world situationsfor the first time overthe last year.

We invested £27 million in 20 ‘first of a kind’ projects that could make a real di�erence to energy, connected transport, and urban infrastructure.

They ranged from schemesto make electric chargingof vehicles easier, to using old electric vehicle batteries for storing power, monitoringof nuclear waste, and tackling transport congestion usingvideo analytics.

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Triallingtechnologyin the realworld

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Cubic gallium nitride opens up new opportunities for LED lighting as it significantly increases e�ciency in the green spectrum – the number 1 technical target of the US Department of Energy for increasing use of LEDs.

Anvil and the university have spun out a new company to exploit the technology.They hope to license it to large LED companies within 2 years.

“The LED work was very speculative indeed. We would never have persuaded our shareholders it was a good way to spend money had we not had an Innovate UK grant.”Jill Shawchief executiveAnvil Semiconductors

Anvil Semiconductors:lighting the way

Power device developer Anvil Semiconductors and its partners the University of Cambridge and Plessey Semiconductors have come up with a way of cutting the cost of LED lighting and increasing its e�ciency.

Energy Catalyst funding helped the partners to demonstrate that it was possible to grow cubic gallium nitride on a cubic siliconcarbide wafer used for semiconductors.

Pictured below:Dr Martin FrentrupProfessor David WallisJill ShawDr Menno Kappers

Tacklingthe energy‘trilemma’

OakTec: environmentally friendly engines UK engineering businessOakTec is on the verge of commercialising a new high-performance, low-costand environmentally friendlygas engine that has applications for electricity generationand as a range-extenderfor electric vehicles.

OakTec’s Pulse-RTM enginehas a high tolerance to poorfuel quality, which makes it particularly suited to growing global markets for burning bio-gas fuels. It was developed with support from theEnergy Catalyst.

The engine can be bolted onto a micro-digester to generate electricity. It is also particularly suited for use in generators and equipment on construction sites, where use of petrol is considered dangerous, and diesel is becoming less acceptable because of soot, particulate and noise emissions.

OakTec is working on a further Energy Catalyst project with engine-supply business E P Barrus that will develop a multi-cylinder Pulse-RTMfor use in generators in developing economies.

Paul Andrews, Chief Executiveof OakTec, said: “We have made an e�ort to use all the support available to us through the Innovate UK family becauseit’s extremely useful.”

The Energy Catalyst was set up in 2013 by Innovate UK, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the Department of Energyand Climate Change(now part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy). The Departmentfor International Development becamea co-funder in 2016.

The Catalyst supports innovation that aims to solve the global energy ‘trilemma’ of the need for energy supply to be low carbon, secure, and a�ordable.

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Pictured below:Michael Andrews engine design internPaul Andrews chief executiveTom Harrison commercial director

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Supportingo�shorewind energyIntrepid Minds:spotting defectsin wind turbines

Research and development consultancy Intrepid Minds developed with Innovate UK support a system to spot potential defects on o�shore wind turbines before they fail.

Sensors on a turbine detect the small deflections and vibrations associated with defects, anda drone permanently situated inside the blade is launchedto perform a local inspection.

A new drone platform, Nest,has been developed to house both aerial and sub-surface drones for external inspections.

Both external and internal drones work togetherin a swarm formation.The development of longer endurance sub-sea drones,such as Amnis (pictured below),also means that the systemis able to monitor the newbreed of floating turbines.

The company has won an opportunity to trial thesystem with a wind farm operator after applyingto the O�shore WindInnovation Exchange.

The O�shore Wind Innovation Exchangeis a pilot programmerun by our Knowledge Transfer Network andthe O�shore Renewable Energy Catapult.

It gives businesses the opportunity to work directlywith o�shore wind farm operators and manufacturerson the challenges they faceand help them to reduce the costs of building and operation.

Amnis sub-sea drone

Adam Smith managing directorIntrepid Minds

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Innovate UK is committed to supporting people froma variety of backgrounds and walks of life to innovate and succeedin business.

Our first diversity and inclusion campaign, Women in Innovation,was launched in 2016.Winners of the competition received £50,000, a tailored business support package and mentoring from a well-known business leader.

A new collaboration between Innovate UK and the Prince’s Trust, Ideas Mean Business,is o�ering financial supportand advice to 18-30 year-oldsto help them to realise an innovative idea.

Innovationis for all

Beth was a finalist in the Women in Innovation awards and wona year of business mentoring.She is leading an Innovate UK-supported project into designing and building a mini hydrogen dispenser that couldbe fitted into breakdown recovery vehicles.

Beth Dawson:Fuel Cell Systems

Beth Dawson is a project manager at Fuel Cell Systems,a business that designs and installs fuel cell energy solutions.

The number of hydrogenfuel cell vehicles on UK roads is expected to grow over time and breakdown vans will need to be able to top up stranded vehicles.

Beth added: “The Womenin Innovation mentoring programme has been incredibly helpful, both to me personally and also for our business.The workshop topics were well thought-through and also enjoyable networking events.The business-specific sessionswe had with members of theKTN and EEN really helped to give us clarity on our strategy and our product o�erings.We put a lot into the last year but we certainly received agreat deal in return – thank you, Innovate UK.”

“Without doubt,the California experience has enabled us toenter the US biofuels market more broadly.”Gillian Harrisonchief executiveWhitefox Technologies

7joint projectswith Shanghaiand Jiangsu

“Across the world cities are experiencing the same issues of urbanisation – congestion, pollution, the need to invest in infrastructure.Citi Logik and Matrix Tra c analytics enable city planners to make smarter choices about resource allocation when pressures on public finances mean that they must do more with less.”

Stephen LeeceCiti Logik

Breaking into global urban services marketWe took 15 entrepreneurs to Sydney and Melbourne on a mission to promote collaboration between business in the UK and Australia working on advanced urban services.

Sydney and Melbourne haveboth made significant progressin sustainable living and smart infrastructure.

Delegates had the opportunityto meet potential customers, partners and investors andto attend workshops andexplore export opportunities.

Citi Logik, a business that has developed an urban analysis platform for public serviceswith longstanding Innovate UK support signed a new partnership with Australia's Matrix Tra�cand Transport Data Limited during the mission.

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Three US plants have already installed Whitefox ICE™ successfully, and Whitefox has contracts for another 4 in the US.

Working withpartners overseas

Whitefox Technologies:On a missionto succeedUK engineering company Whitefox Technologies has successfully exploited market opportunities in the United States after attending Clean and Cool missions in San Francisco and Brazil.

The missions helped them togain knowledge in the biofuels industry and gave them the confidence to pitch their membrane-based technologyto US biofuel producer Pacific Ethanol and secure a deal.

Since the Pacific Ethanoldeal was announced Whitefox Technologies has had a streamof new inquiries from North American and European businesses interested in howthe technology reduces waste, emissions and cost.

European SOLAR-ERA.NETsolar electricity technologies programme.

In 2017 we ran our firstbilateral funding competitions with Shanghai and Jiangsu, resulting in 7 infrastructureand future cities projects.We also work with the Newton Fund, which aims to build research collaborations between UK businesses and overseaspartners that promote economicdevelopment and social welfare in o�cial developmentassistance countries.

We help businesses to work with overseas partners in a numberof ways.

Overseas missions help UK businesses to meet potential customers, partners and investors in other countries.

Over the last few years, wehave run several Clean and Cool missions to the United States and Brazil. They involved75 cleantech SMEs thatsecured £650 million in salesand investment followingthe missions.

We have also run three recent urban living missions to Australia, Malaysia and Singapore for more than 40 businesses working in the urban living sector.

We help UK businesses to take part in European research and development programmes such as Horizon 2020 and support joint funding competitions under the

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Whitefox Directors:Gillian HarrisonTrond HeggenhougenAlan Stewart

CorrosionRADAR:sensing a good investmentRemote-sensing business CorrosionRADAR won a £104,000 Innovate UK award and secureda further £250,000 investment from early-stage technology investor Mercia Fund Managers in our investment accelerator pilot.

The funding will allow the company to develop its novel technology for sensing and monitoring corrosion and ‘corrosion under insulation’ in oil and gas pipelines and assets and to gain commercial partners for field tests.

The technology could help asset owners to reduce costs and increase environmental and safety standards.

“The team at CorrosionRADARis committedto creating a game-changing solution for tackling corrosion management and we are looking forward to working with Mercia, which is supporting us through this exciting journey.”Dr Chiraz Ennaceurchief executiveCorrosionRADAR

Helping businessto �nd investorsBusinesses with innovative products and services often find it hard to make that final jump to commercialisation because they cannot raise the funds they need to invest.

In 2017, we ran a successful investment accelerator pilotthat combined our funding with venture capital investment.

The aim was to promote the earliest possible decisions on funding and investment by bringing together our expertisein identifying and funding the most promising innovations with the financial sector’s ability to spot commercial opportunities and support businesses with the greatest potential for growth.

Businesses with innovative ideas also had the opportunity to pitch to investors at one of our new investor showcases.

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“We're very excited about the potential of bringing the best data science applications to bear on important public services. It’s already an incredibly useful tool for hard-pressed government leaders, and we hope to roll it out more widelyin 2018"Francine Bennettchief executive and co-founderMastodon C

Witan platform aims to help make this a reality across theUK and more widely.

Mastodon C also applies its expertise and platforms with public sector organisations such as NHS England, and corporate organisations such as large specialty insurers.

Mastodon C:Helping government to improve lives with big dataData science business Mastodon C is helping local and central government to strategicallyplan services with a newdecision-making platform,thanks to a £2 millionSBRI contract.

The company developed and tested the system with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and several county councilsand London boroughs. It is now being used by governmentto explore special educational needs and social care demand projections, budget and commissioning needs, and policy options, as well as to provide a secure data storage and data sharing backbone for the GLA and other agencies.Data sharing, modelling,and projections are a critical part of modern government, and the

We work with government departments and agenciesto join them with innovative businessesthat can help them to meet their challenges.

The main way we do thisis through SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative).Contracts are awarded to arange of projects that lookat the feasibility of their idea.The best ideas usually geta second contract to develop them further.

We have recently helped the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to run SBRI competitions to help themfind new and innovative waysto make decommissioningof nuclear facilities safer and more cost-e�ective.

Helping businessmeet public sectorchallenges

Transport Systems Catapult

The Transport Systems Catapult drives the development of intelligent mobility – the smarter, greener, safer and more e�cient movement of people and goods around the world. This includes improving customer experience, transport data analysis and exploitation, automation and autonomy in transport systems, smart infrastructure and connectivity, and disruptive business models. It has delivered 127 projects and welcomed more than 1,800 businesses to its innovation centre.

Innovation andKnowledge Centres

Innovation and knowledge centres provide support for the commercialisation of emerging technologies. They are basedin universities, led by an expert entrepreneurial team and co-funded by research councils. We support the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction. (www-smartinfrastructure.eng.cam.ac.uk) and SPECIFIC (buildings as power stations), based in Swansea Bay (www.specific.eu.com).

O�shore RenewableEnergy Catapult

The O�shore Renewable Energy Catapult supports improvements in the operation of existing wind farms and the development of new wind farm technologies.In 2016/17, it supported134 SMEs, worked on testing and validation with 51 companies, was involved in 35 international projects, and had 94 active research and development projects.

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Future Cities Catapult

The Future Cities Catapult brings together businesses, universities and city leaders to work on solving the problems that cities face, now and in the future.It has worked with morethan a dozen UK cities on more than 42 projects and supported600 small businesses. It has delivered projects in 22 countries.

Energy Systems Catapult

The Energy Systems Catapult helps innovators to grasp the opportunities from the transition to a clean, intelligent energy system. It is delivering the UK’s largest smart, consumer-focussed programme to decarbonise residential heating. The Energy Systems Catapult has worked closely with more than200 organisations in the last12 months and broadenedits reach to 2,000 businessesthrough its partnership withthe Energy Innovation Centre.

The Catapult centres area network of 10 world- leading centres that work with business, researchers and government to transform the UK’s capability for innovationin specific areas and help drive future economic growth. The Catapult network was set up by Innovate UK, and we provide core fundingfor their operation.We also support other centres that aim tohelp businesses to commercialise emerging technologies.

Catapults are transformingUK capability

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