WINNERS of the Foresight Challenge, a 鈥渃ompetition鈥� to encourage partnerships between industry and science, are in line for a windfall of 拢40 million of government cash.
The competition is the next step in the government鈥檚 Technology Foresight initiative, which aims to pinpoint emerging technologies and areas of strategic importance to particular sectors of industry.
杏吧原创s who want a share of the funding must find a partner in the private sector who is willing to come up with half the cost of their project. 鈥淲e are looking for things which are at this stage a bit venturesome,鈥� said Robert May, the government鈥檚 chief scientific adviser.
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Universities count as private partners, and matching funds can come in the form of 鈥渆quivalent material resources鈥�. Applications must be in by mid-November, and the winners will be announced in April.
The government hopes to tempt small and medium-sized enterprises. 鈥淪ome of these firms don鈥檛 have the money to carry these things forward,鈥� said May. 鈥淥ne is in a sense offering a 50 per cent subsidy.鈥�