New funding available for university/industry collaborations
The Fast Forward competition run by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) is open for entries again. Now in its third year, the competition awards funding to innovative projects with the aim of encouraging universities and public sector research establishments to collaborate with businesses and local communities on ventures that benefit UK society and can help grow the economy.
The competition will look at intellectual property (IP) – whether that is inventions, trade marks, designs or copyright – created by universities in collaboration with industry, with winners being selected from those who demonstrate that their project can improve the management of IP and knowledge exchange to create new companies or services. Previous winners have completed projects in diverse areas ranging from medical research to the creative industries and social enterprises. Case studies from the winners can be seen at the UK IPO’s Fast Forward website.
Over its first two years Fast Forward has provided £1.25 million in prizes to 23 winning projects. The total prize fund available for this year’s competition is £750,000, which will be awarded to around a dozen projects in individual awards of between £10,000 and £100,000.
Entries must be in by 14 December 2012, and more details about the competition can be found in the information pack available from the UK IPO.
