Innovate UK

History

Innovate UK has its roots as an advisory body - the Technology Strategy Board - established in 2004 within the former UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), before becoming an independent body in July 2007 after the reorganisation of the DTI into the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) under Brown's government.

The original Technology Strategy Board had its roots in the Innovation Review published by the DTI in December 2003 and the Lambert Review. This reconfigured the major funding mechanism as the Collaborative Research and Development Technology Programme, transformed the pre-existing Faraday Partnerships into Knowledge Transfer Networks, renamed the Teaching Company Scheme as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and set up an Advisory Board made up of 12 people from business, venture capital and regional government. These changes all took place in 2004 - with the Advisory Board being appointed in October of that year.

In the 2006 Budget Gordon Brown announced the intention to set up the Technology Strategy Board as a "non-departmental public body" operating at "arm's length" from the UK Government. It was decided to locate the new organisation in Swindon, and to recruit a team primarily with business experience.

In August 2014 the organisation adopted the name Innovate UK, and began a transition to use the new name in all its communications. However the legal name of the organisation currently remains as the Technology Strategy Board.

Governing board

The governing board consists of

Programmes

The tools and programmes offered by the organisation include Collaborative Research and Development, SBRI (the Small Business Research Initiative), Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Launchpad competitions and overseas missions.

It has developed the Innovation Platforms - an approach to innovation which harnesses the activities government departments use to address societal challenges to stimulate innovative solutions within UK businesses.

The 2010 coalition budget announced that certain innovation activity would transfer from regional development agencies to the Technology Strategy Board, including the Grant for Research & Development (now branded as Smart) and Innovation Vouchers.

In 2012 the Technology Strategy Board began to establish the network of Catapult centres. This is a long-term investment to create world-leading centres where scientists and businesses will work together to accelerate the pace of innovation in particular sectors and help businesses bring new products and services more quickly to market.

Knowledge transfer

As well as the knowledge transfer inherent in many of its funding programmes, the Technology Strategy Board runs a Knowledge Transfer Network covering a wide range of technology areas and specialisms, where people can share ideas and find partners.

_connect

Innovate UK maintains an online collaboration platform, where members of the Knowledge Transfer Network and other groups concerned with innovation can meet, share information and collaborate.

_connect is an online business networking and open innovation portal. The site currently has over 90,000 active user profiles, is home to the Knowledge Transfer Network and a wide range of other special interest and networking groups.

Businesses can use _connect as a place to meet and network with other organisations and to find business partners for collaborative projects.

Ultra low carbon vehicle demonstrator programme

An example of the organisation's work was the UK-wide ultra low carbon vehicle demonstrator programme, where over 340 vehicles were trialled to provide data for future vehicle innovation. Some of the cars are

Funded projects

Projects it has funded include: