Transforming Foundation Industries Early 2021 Activity
Take a look at some of the activities that will be going on in the early part of this year as part of the ISCF Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge.
2020 Highlights
Firstly, to look back on 2020, the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge has come a long way. 2020 started with the close of the Fast Start Competition, showing real success in bringing our foundation industries together, uniting over key themes. £2.5 million of funding was rewarded for projects which ranged from the mapping of waste streams of local regions to the development of transformative processing techniques.
Through the central Business Led Innovation competition, £150k of funding was awarded for foundation industries, while the Resilient Recovery Competition, launched in August, was very competitive, bringing in 71 applications. 21 projects have just been announced for award with grant costs of £7.4m. We are very aware of the challenges that the current uncertainty brings in investing in R&D, but we were very happy to see that all foundation industries were successful in receiving funding for multiple projects. Additionally, the development of the Glass Futures pilot production facility is continuing at pace, with contractors planning to break ground in April 2021.
TFI in 2021
The Network + will bring together academic, industrial, regulatory and policymaking stakeholders to co-create novel solutions that transform and reinvigorate the foundation industries. In addition to workshops, knowledge transfer, outreach and dissemination, the network will test concepts and guide the development of innovative outcomes by issuing calls for projects.
The latest R&D competition launched on 11th January, with the briefing event taking place on 13th January – the recording for this is available here. The competition will close on Wednesday 10th March – Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £8 million for collaborative cross-sector, research and development projects. The aim of this competition is to improve the productivity sustainability and competitiveness of foundation industry companies and supply chains, by funding cross-sector collaborative research and development projects. Your project must work on resource and energy efficiency challenges common to 2 or more of the foundation industries. You can find out more about the competition here.
Under current restrictions, without being able to run physical events, we understand how hard finding new project partners is. So, if you have a project idea that you are looking to lead and you are seeking partners, our Interactive Partner Brokerage event is for you! This will be taking place on Thursday 21st January from 10:00 – 11:30 with the aim of aiding the development of compelling proposal submissions into the TFI Large CR&D Competition and facilitate collaboration. Share 2-3 minutes on your project for the audience to respond with how they can support. We will facilitate a closed session where you can discuss the project in more detail with partners and develop your application. Find out more and register here.