Two Northern Ireland SBRI competitions have been launched, with a total of £0.4m on offer to small, innovative businesses. These fully-funded competitions are looking for solutions to two public sector problems with a focus on immersive technology and data analytics.
EA SBRI – Capturing our Carbon Capital
The Education Authority (EA) is responsible for providing efficient and effective education services to meet the needs of children and young people in Northern Ireland through more than 200 premises/support sites, 2,000+ schools, 600 school meals kitchens and a fleet of 1,000 vehicles.
The EA wants to find a way of quantifying the carbon emissions produced by this network of buildings and vehicles – it’s currently the third largest energy consumer in the NI Public Sector, with schools consuming an estimated 20% of the NI public estate’s emissions.
The EA wants to work with innovative companies on immersive technology solutions to capture, baseline, track, and report on carbon emissions, while engaging with young people and EA employees to reduce its impact.
The total fund for this competition is £225,000 and the closing date is 23rd September 2022.
The Strategic Investment Board is running an online briefing event on September 1st 9.20-11.30 where you can find out more about the SBRI programme in Northern Ireland, the EA’s project and how to apply. Book here
DfE SBRI – Harnessing technology to drive policy development
In May 2021, the Department for the Economy published its 10X Economy – an Economic Vision for a Decade of Innovation Report. This 10x Economic Vision sets out an ambitious strategic vision for innovation led, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Northern Ireland.
The document also sets out how achievement of the 10x Vision will be measured and benchmarked on a series of high-level indicators. These indicators will assess how NI stands against a number of top performing small-advanced economies around the globe.
As the Department takes forward its 10X Economic Vision they need to be able to use the vast amount of data available to more intelligently and efficiently measure the performance of interventions and the success they are having in achieving our high level 10X Economic Vision indicators. Failure to link performance of Departmental policies/programmes/projects to changes to the 10X indicators will mean failure to demonstrate the success these interventions are having.
Therefore, through this SBRI challenge, the Department wants to investigate whether there is technology available that will assist in measuring achievement against the 10x Economic Vision and to drive coherent 10x policy development and delivery.
This SBRI challenge seeks to harness technologies, including the potential of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, to undertake this linking process. The expectation is that it would happen in real time and provide a level of clarity and simplicity for policy makers who would otherwise be presented with a very complex policy map.
The total fund for this competition is £150,000 and the closing date is 30th September 2023.
The Strategic Investment Board is running an online briefing event on September 12th 2-4pm where you can find out more about the SBRI programme in Northern Ireland, the DfE’s project and how to apply. Book here
What are SBRIs?
SBRIs provide the public sector with innovative solutions to problems that drive improvement and allow suppliers to develop products and services by working collaboratively with the public sector, enabling them to develop new skills, expertise and markets. Launched in Northern Ireland in 2009, the programme supports diverse projects across the public sector.
SBRI competitions are open to all businesses (sole traders, partnerships or limited companies) either on their own or in conjunction with another business, charity or academic institution.
SBRI projects usually involve a first short (typically 6-9 months) proof of concept phase. Multiple suppliers will work with the public sector challenge owner, and if those proofs of concept are promising, a further development phase will be used to take forward the most promising solutions.
Since the SBRI launched in Northern Ireland in 2009, more than 50 companies have led on SBRI projects across seven government departments, working on more than 30 projects. Many have also collaborated with other organisations including charities and community groups, as well as universities and research organisations.
Feedback from suppliers show that most value the opportunity to work with the public sector, with many seeing benefits in increased knowledge and skills of working with the public sector, as well as the opportunity to enter new markets and grow their businesses.