Review of Round 2 Competition Briefing Events from the GCRF Demonstrate Impact Programme
The second round of GCRF Demonstrate Impact events took place in March 2020 in London and Edinburgh and were yet again a great success!
Overview
KTN and Innovate UK would like to thank all Speakers, Organisers and Participants following a successful second round of competition briefing events.
Both workshops included an overview of the Programme from Charlie Winkworth-Smith, KTN, the competition itself a long with aims and scope from Programme Manager Jo Hill, Innovate UK, and a session on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion from Zoe Jones, also from Innovate UK.
Sven Knowles, and Jonathan Abra, KTN gave us some excellent tips for the application process, whilst Tolu Odusanya, Dalberg Design, Richard Hall, Pd-m International, and Ben Griffin, Innovate UK, guided us through what Human-Centred Design is and why it is so important to consider for this competition and for any part of designing!
There were many extremely important questions over the two events and limited time to get through them all so we thought it would be helpful to create an ‘FAQs‘ to support you when applying for funding, or for any questions you may have in general about the programme.
The Sustainable Development Goals in scope for this competition are:
· SDG 3: good health and well-being
· SDG 4: quality education
· SDG 6: clean water and sanitation
· SDG 8: decent work and economic growth
· SDG 11: sustainable cities and communities
· SDG 12: responsible consumption and production
· SDG 13: climate action
· SDG 14: life below water
· SDG 15: life on land
· SDG 16: peace, justice and strong institutions
Human-Centred Design also plays a large part in this competition as your Phase I Discovery project must include human-centred research and design to make sure your idea meets the needs of customers and users, and your prototype plans reflect realistic use cases.
Webcast recording and the slides from London are now available:
Find the slides here.
Webcast recording and the slides from Edinburgh are now available:
Find the slides here.
About GCRF Demonstrate Impact
The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) will invest up to £9.3 million in demonstration-stage projects. The projects must have the potential to transform lives in developing countries, through market-creating innovation. We will support projects that address one of ten global societal challenges recognised in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the development of innovative processes, products and services. These projects should lead to the deployment of those innovations within developing countries.
This funding is split into 2 phases:
Phase 1: Discovery Рenabling businesses to gain insights into local market feasibility for the innovation prior to prototyping. To ensure that your innovation has the highest chance of being successfully adopted, you will need to understand cultural expectations, attitudes and local context in the developing country you are focusing on. Up to £60K grant funding per project.
Phase 2: Prototype Рto test, validate and improve a prototype of the innovation in a developing country market. Up to £500K grant funding per project.
This round of the competition is to secure funding for phase 1 projects. Only successful phase 1 applicants will be eligible to apply for the phase 2 funding.
The competition opened on March 2nd and closes on May 6th at midday 12pm UK time.
To apply for Round 2, Phase 1 click here.
So what’s next?
You should hopefully now have all the information you need following our two competition briefing events to help you to apply for funding so the next part is over to you! Below is an overview of the GCRF Demonstrate Impact fund, as well as the competition deadlines and link to the funding page to apply. If you are still unsure, then have a read of our report and guide or watch our video interviews (links below) which are excellent case studies related to how projects brought innovative solutions to developing countries, and more information on the GCRF Demonstrate Impact fund itself. And of course, if you still have any questions at all, please contact our support email here: support@innovateuk.ukri.org.
Watch a video interview with David Sarphie, AquAffirm‚Ñ¢
Watch a video interview with Elin Haf Davies, Aparito
Watch a video interview with Jake Larsson, KTN
Watch a video interview with Bhavin Engineer, b.e. Design
Watch a video interview with Helen Fletcher, UK Research and Innovation