Investments of up to £1.4m could be made in hyperlocal media technology projects designed to serve communities in the UK.
The Technology Strategy board alongside Nesta will be setting aside £2.5m to invest in up to 5 “demonstrator” projects ranging in size from £700k to £1.4m in total costs.
The innovations will offer access to news or content services specific to a town or individual postcode and must be collaborative and business led.
“We expect to fund industrial research projects, in which a business partner will generally attract up to 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for SMEs),” writes the Technology Strategy Board in the brief.
“Consortium partners can include businesses of any size, as well as academic organisations, although academic participation will be capped at 30% of the overall project costs. Projects will last between 12 and 18 months and may be deployed in specific geographical areas. “
The two-stage competition opened this week, with the deadline for expressions of interest at noon on December 18th. Regional briefing events will take place in November.
Submission of full stage applications will begin on 10 February 2014 with the deadline for applications on 19 March 2014.
