A4I is back for another round!
Analysis for Innovators is back! The latest round of the A4I programme from Innovate UK and its partners (LGC, NPL, NEL, & STFC) has now opened, with up to £3M available in total for Round 3.
In our role as the National Measurement Laboratory, we have worked with Innovate UK since the very start of A4I, back in January 2017, and the programme has proved such a success that we are already moving on to the third round!
But be quick to take advantage of this opportunity as the first stage of the application closes at noon on 6th September. A4I is a very unique programme from Innovate UK – it helps UK businesses address difficult problems that restrict their potential productivity and competitiveness. The scope is very wide (chemical, physical, biological and computing) but the problems must be of a measurement or analysis nature.
A4I targets real industry problems that haven’t been solved with existing products or services. As such, it is of interest to companies that have not traditionally considered applying for funding. Any size of business, with any type of measurement or analysis problem, are eligible to apply. If your company makes it past the first stage, you will be matched with us, NPL, NEL or STFC for a consultation. After this stage, some companies will continue to work with us in our own world-class measurement labs.
The first two rounds of the A4I programme have seen us help several companies overcome measurement problems. In Round 1, we worked with the Coconut Collaborative, a manufacturer of coconut yoghurt, and STFC to develop a rapid and robust screening method to detect rancid coconut cream before its use. The use of rancid cream led to lost sales and waste for the company. We helped develop a novel screening approach with multi-spectral imaging, which will help the Coconut Collective avoid annual costs of £500k.
We also worked with Sistemic to help ensure the safety of cell therapy products, by increasing the sensitivity of their novel technology, which detects contamination in cell therapy products. Cell therapies are seen as the future of treatment in a number of areas including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, one type of cell being used to generate cell therapy products (pluripotent stem cells, or PSCs) has the potential to form tumours. The NML enhanced the sensitivity and specificity of the Sistemic novel prototype miRNA-assay to the levels required for market (<10 cells per million). This assay will ensure producers can accurately assess PSC contamination in their cell therapy products.
Other examples of the companies that were funded under A4I Round 1 can be found at Analysis for Innovators winning projects, and for more information about the work and case studies of the NML at LGC, have a look at our latest annual review.
And don’t forget to apply now– there’s £3 million up for grabs!