Following last week’s announcement by Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, that the next technology and innovation centre will be in offshore renewable energy. The technology Strategy Board (TSB) has already published a list of ten further candidate areas.
Three out of the ten candidate areas, which are named in the Board’s strategy and implementation plan for the centres, will be the focus of new centres designed to make the UK a world leader in their fields.
The purpose of technology and innovation centres is to promote the UK’s economic development and the centres are expected to help generate billions of pounds for British companies and the economy.
According to Business Secretary Vince Cable, technology and innovation centres are a new approach to linking research with the practical needs of the business world. Once operational, the centres will produce innovations which could help to make the UK a world leader in a range of markets.
A technology and innovation centre is a physical, business-focused centre where world-leading technologies and research capabilities are available to businesses to help them solve their commercialisation challenges and produce innovations which can be developed commercially, with the potential to create multi-billion pound global business opportunities.
The offshore renewable energy technology and innovation centre announced last week is the third to be launched, joining high value manufacturing and cell therapy as areas already given approval to go ahead.
The next three centres will be selected from:
- Complex systems
- Digital media/creative industries
- Future cities
- Future internet systems
- Photonics
- Resource efficiency
- Sensor systems
- Smart grids and distribution
- Space
- Transport systems and integration
It is very likely that TSB Technology funding “themes” for this year and next year will be also chosen from the list above.
