Darling announces £1.5m to help drive East of England ‘innovation powerhouse’

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling visited high-tech companies in Cambridge, announcing a £1.5 million fund to drive local entrepreneurs’ ideas and back the East of England’s role as an innovation powerhouse.

The East of England Development Agency’s (EEDA) £1.5m Proof of Concept fund was launched, along with £1.15 million from the DTI-led Technology Programme for a new Cambridge-based collaboration to research ways to improve hydrogen fuel cells, which can be used in ‘greener’ vehicles.

The announcement came ahead of the launch of National Science and Engineering week on Thursday. It also coincided with new figures showing young people and graduates from the East of England were far more likely to be entrepreneurial than in other parts of the UK. Almost a third more young people between 18 and 24 in the East of England are setting up their own businesses compared to the national average.

After viewing a ‘green’ car, featuring new technology to measure emissions, developed by Lysanda, a company awarded funding in last year’s ‘Proof of Concept’ fund pilot to research marketability, Mr Darling said: “The East of England has always been an ideas and innovation powerhouse. We are backing it all the way. Innovation and new ideas translate into new jobs, which means good news for the Cambridge area and the UK as a whole. This £1.5m ideas fund is the next step.”

“In particular, we’ve invested more than £11 million in the Cambridge area since 2004 to companies to develop cutting edge technology, through our Technology Programme. The newest project I can announce is a £1.15 million collaboration for research to help further develop hydrogen technology for cars and make it cheaper and more efficient. This research is good for consumers and the environment, potentially cutting costs and emissions.”

Mark Aspinall, Head of Innovation at EEDA, said: “The East of England is rightly known as ‘the ideas region’, but translating ideas into profitable businesses not only requires vision it needs careful nurturing. The launch of our Proof of Concept Fund does precisely this by giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to thoroughly test the commercial environment confronting their business prior to launch. Last year’s pilot project benefited companies from across the East of England. Our aim is to see even more come forward this year.”

The new ‘Proof of Concept’ fund will help entrepreneurs in business and higher education research the commercial viability of their ideas. Last year, the pilot project of this fund helped 50 local firms.

The Proof of Concept Fund, which is open to innovative ideas, will allocate funding of between £5,000 and £40,000 to a maximum of 75 percent of project cost over four seasonal rounds. The deadline for the spring (first) round closes on 20 April with awards scheduled to be announced on 22 June.

Further information including an application form, guidance notes and case studies on some past winners is available at www.eeda.org.uk/proofofconcept. Following his award last year, Ray Pitman of KIS said: “The Proof of Concept Fund has been quite invaluable. I would warmly encourage other entrepreneurs to engage with this programme.” EEDA’s aim is that others will be inspired by the opportunities offered by the fund and benefit in the same way Ray did last year.

As part of his visit to Cambridge, Alistair Darling also went to Light Blue Optics at St John's Innovation Park, which has developed an innovative laser-based miniature projection technology, and Plastic Logic on Cambridge Science Park, which manufactures a revolutionary new technology for printing electronic devices.