GCRF Demonstrate Impact Competition Briefing - Belfast: Sustainable Cities & Communities

Editor's Notes

• #9: Hands-up who is familiar?
• #11: This funding is part of UKRI’s GCRF delivery under the commercialisation and innovation strand of activity. These reasons might include: businesses’ reluctancy to enter new markets due to financial risks customers’ reluctancy to buy unproven technology, and lack of appropriate connection and collaboration on R&D for new innovations investors’ reluctancy to take on both technology and new market risk
• #13: Technology alone is rarely the answer to a development challenge eg. toilets, Good - Created by SaltedEgg from Noun Project
• #17: Phase 1 is for businesses to explore the feasibility of demonstrating their innovation in a particular developing country, to gain further knowledge about the market conditions, and to identify a partner or partners to collaborate with for that demonstration (if not already identified). Phase 1 projects can include human-centred design and/or technical feasibility studies.
• #19: produce a validation of need for, and opportunity of demonstrating your innovation in the developing country have identified all demonstration partners and their roles, other main stakeholders and the business case for the innovation in that country outline the anticipated social and economic impact from your demonstration
• #22: Note that SDGs and ODA are not the same.
• #27: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade ‘OECD uses its wealth of information on a broad range of topics to help governments foster prosperity and fight poverty through economic growth and financial stability. Helping ensure the environmental implications of economic and social development are taken into account.’.
• #28: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade ‘OECD uses its wealth of information on a broad range of topics to help governments foster prosperity and fight poverty through economic growth and financial stability. Helping ensure the environmental implications of economic and social development are taken into account.’.
• #31: The DAC List of ODA Recipients shows all countries and territories eligible to receive official development assistance (ODA). These consist of all low and middle income countries based on gross national income (GNI) per capita as published by the World Bank, with the exception of G8 members, EU members, and countries with a firm date for entry into the EU. The list also includes all of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations (UN). 
• #33: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/9/section/1/enacted
• #34: demonstrating that: it concerns an innovation that is at a demonstration-ready stage. it addresses up to 2 of the 10 SDGs in scope for this competition and is clear of the SDG targets it aims to contribute to it focuses on an eligible country from the OECD DAC List of ODA recipients, noting which countries are out of scope To be eligible for a GCRF grant, you must clearly explain and give evidence for how your project is in scope for Official Development Assistance and is ODA eligible (also see question 1 below). You must explain how your project will promote the economic development and welfare of people in developing countries as its main objective, in the wider context of contributing to the SDGs.
• #39: As a reminder….
• #41: These are the key dates to bear in mind for this competition. It’s important to note that the submission deadline is at noon on the dot. IFS will automatically close and so at 12:01 applications can’t be submitted. We strongly recommend that you submit your application as early as possible as traffic will be high on deadline day Please contact customer support in advance of the deadline if you experience any difficulties with submitting your application so that we can assist you in good time.
• #46: Use this image if your presentation has a diversity focus
• #47: Diversity significantly improves financial performance on measures such as profitable investments at the individual portfolio-company level and overall fund returns – Paul Gompers, Harvard Business Review n this article we’ll describe the research behind those findings and provide recommendations for reaping the business benefits of diversity. Decision makers fare best when they openly acknowledge and address homophily early on, understand that small adjustments in mindset and behavior can have lasting ripple effects, and diversify their personal as well as professional networks. HBR (2018) The latest McKinsey report: Delivering Though Diversity (Jan 2018) looking at companies across the globe shows that companies with the greatest diversity on executive teams outperform their competitors in terms of profitability. There are also similar trends when looking at longer term value creation. The report also demonstrates that there is a penalty for companies that are not diverse. Companies with lower gender and ethnic diversity on their executive teams are 29% more likely to underperform than more diverse companies. Boston Consulting Group (Jan 2018) surveyed employees at more than 1,700 companies in eight countries (Austria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Switzerland, and the US) across a variety of industries and company sizes. (This was a followup study to one they reported on last year in The Mix That Matters: Innovation Through Diversity, BCG Focus, April 2017, and discussed in an accompanying TED talk.) We looked at perceptions of diversity at the management level across six dimensions—gender, age, nation of origin (meaning employees born in a country other than the one in which the company is headquartered), career path, industry background, and education (meaning employees’ focus of study in college or graduate school). To gauge a company’s level of innovation, we looked at the percentage of total revenue from new products and services launched over the past three years. Broadly, 75% of respondents said that diversity is gaining momentum in their organizations. Employees at companies in emerging markets (China, Brazil, and India) reported greater progress over the past several years than companies in developed markets.  The biggest takeaway we found is a strong and statistically significant correlation between the diversity of management teams and overall innovation. 
• #48: where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured Women in Britain are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed following a heart attack: heart failure trials generally use male participants. Speech-recognition software is trained on recordings of male voices: Google’s version is 70% more likely to understand men.
• #51: We will cover the costs of them attending this (ie. I will from Demonstrate Impact budget) We would expect at least the Lead Partner to attend? Or representatives from each Project Partner per project?
• #52: We will cover the costs of them attending this (ie. I will from Demonstrate Impact budget) We would expect at least the Lead Partner to attend? Or representatives from each Project Partner per project?
• #55: We are part of the ‘Connect’ function working with our friends at the Enterprise Europe Network. I shall hand over to Alastair MacKenzie next to tell us about the work of the EEN, but key to us is that it doesn’t matter who you talk to; come to either of these networks and if we are not your best source of help, we will find that best source for you. Broadly speaking, KTN is about being a national network with deep sector knowledge; and the EEN network is more orientated to local business support, including international business development.
• #56: GENERIC INTRO SLIDE
• #57: GENERIC BRAND SLIDE
• #58: KTN in Numbers
• #59: KTN Results
• #60: KTN Offer – (Companies and R&D)
• #62: …
• #63: .
• #65: .
• #66: The KTN has produced a guide based around the Innovate UK grant application process. However it has many fundamental principles that will hold you in good stead applying for other grants, or indeed for private finance or banking etc Im going to cover off the four fundamental principles behind a good application and high level advice based on things I see when giving feedback on applications ahead of submission.
• #67: The KTN has produced a guide based around the Innovate UK grant application process. However it has many fundamental principles that will hold you in good stead applying for other grants, or indeed for private finance or banking etc Im going to cover off the four fundamental principles behind a good application and high level advice based on things I see when giving feedback on applications ahead of submission.
• #69: And finally, I recently created this table on support and TRL levels for a blog, as an external innovation competition organiser said they found it hard to decipher the UK innovation support space and to know where to tell people to look for what kinds of support, based on how advanced the idea was. I wont read it out, but it will be available after the event with the slides and is something to consider when thinking about what it is you want to achieve and where the best place is to look for the right support.
• #70: Robots play an invaluable role in eliminating the need for humans to perform tasks that are dull, dirty, dangerous, demanding, distant, and distributed (known as ‘the six Ds’). The government acknowledged this in ISCF wave 1 with a £94m ‘Robotics for a Safer World’ fund, bolstered by a further £70m contribution from industry to date. As a result, innovative robotic technologies are being developed for applications in offshore, nuclear, and space industries, plus applications cutting across multiple industries. Robots also have a role to play in other Industrial Strategy challenges, such as Transforming Construction, Medicines Manufacturing and Transforming Food Production. In the latest wave of funding, robots will be a key technology for Manufacturing Made Smarter. In order to ensure uptake of RAI solutions so that they can really add value, it’s important for innovators to work closely with the end users to fully understand their needs and the wider ecosystem which the solution must integrate into. Likewise the end user needs to understand the solution and how to benefit from it.   RAI SIG exists to support this closer alignment between RAI innovators and end users, through: understanding the needs of end users connecting with the RAI community to understand the current capability spotting appropriate opportunities for the application of RAI educating end users of the value in adopting a RAI solution stimulating collaborative partnerships for developing and adopting RAI solutions The KTN is the ideal organisation to operate this RAI SIG, with our huge network of organisations across all sectors, our knowledge of innovation processes and the support that we offer. Our robotics work here at KTN supports the ISCF cohort and wider robotics community, connecting innovators, end users and investors via both one-to-one engagements and the co-ordinated activities of the Robotics & AI Special Interest Group. The success of this work to date was evident at our sold-out 2019 Robotics & AI Industry Showcase which attracted over 600 delegates, from businesses large and small, for an absolutely buzzing day of robotics and AI themed talks, exhibitions and networking. The momentum of the RAI SIG has been such that our last two events have hosted BEIS announcements in support of this growing robotics & AI community. The RAI SIG will be continuing for a further two years to build on this success and catalyse the commercialisation of the exciting innovations in this field.
• #71: Click on the Showcase logo to play a video
• #73: Next newsletter 11th September with upcoming events
• #74: GENERIC INTRO SLIDE
• #81: You can of course include elements of both within your phase 1 project Using human-centred design to make sure you’re testing worthwhile technical solutions And using technical studies to confirm the feasibility of people-inspired ideas.
• #85: Because there’s no point in demonstrating that a solution is technically feasible if no-one wants it anyway
• #88: We often tend to rush through the initial phases Either for practical reasons - because time and money are in short supply Or simply because we’re excited about our idea and we want to get our teeth into the technical challenges and get it made. Instead we work off assumptions, pre-conceived ideas and secondary research. It’s not always easy to open our ideas up to scrutiny and challenge ourselves. A design study can often reveal uncomfortable truths. Better to discover and act on them sooner rather than later “You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the construction site” Frank Lloyd Wright Investing in the discover and define stages can save a lot of time and money later and add value.
• #89: They all start with gathering human insight as a source of inspiration and validation, and involve generating and quickly testing/iterating lots of ideas.
• #90: Take this opportunity to get out there and experience things first hand. Make decisions based on what you’ve seen and experienced, rather than what you assume or have inferred from secondary research. Don’t simply ask people what they think of your idea. Observe their everyday (and unexpected) behaviours, record them, interview them, have a go yourselves. Become the expert.
• #92: Do build empathy. Engage directly with people in real-world scenarios and experience things for yourself Do think divergently. Don’t accept your first idea. Always ask ”Why?” and “What if…?” Do get your hands dirty. Draw things, make things, try things out. Generate conversation. Don’t be precious. Challenge your assumptions and ideas. Embrace and respond to new discoveries – even if that means pivoting.