Section Menu

Press Release 2 January 2008 - TSB to invest £10m in Low Carbon Energy Technology Research

The Technology Strategy Board is to stimulate improvements in low carbon energy technologies through a £10 million investment in collaborative research and development.

The Low Carbon Energy Technologies competition – part of the Technology Strategy Board's Autumn 2007 call for proposals in a number of innovation and technology areas – will support a broad portfolio of technologies and will help to accelerate their development, bringing them quickly and cost effectively to market.

The investment will fund highly innovative industry-led collaborative research and development projects in areas such as intelligent grid integration and management, carbon abatement technologies, hydrogen & fuel cells, microgeneration & photovoltaics and bioenergy.

The Technology Strategy Board’s investments will provide partial funding for winning projects that address one or more of these areas, and which involve businesses working collaboratively with other businesses and/or with research organisations and academic institutions.

The projects, which can last for 2 to 3 years, can range from small, highly focussed basic research projects, aimed at establishing technical feasibility, through to applied research and experimental development projects.

The Technology Strategy Board is working in close collaboration with the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and other public funding bodies to ensure the UK develops a coordinated research, development and demonstration portfolio of projects across the energy sector. The ETI issued details of its complementary programmes covering offshore wind and marine, tidal and wave technologies on 17 December 2007.

Explaining the background to the competition, Technology Strategy Board Chief Executive Iain Gray said “The challenge of moving towards a lower carbon economy, using a mix of technologies and energy sources, requires us to develop a portfolio of low carbon energy technologies for the electricity, heat and transport markets.”

“The Technology Strategy Board is committed to stimulating the development and deployment of technologies which, while contributing to the UK’s climate change and energy security goals, also represent major business opportunities for the UK. New markets are being created in low carbon energy technologies and this brings significant potential for wealth creation in the UK.”

Applicants must register their intention to apply for funding, and submit an outline of their proposal, by 22 February 2008 and the final closing date for applications is 27 March 2008. Further information is available at www.technologyprogramme.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive non-departmental public body, established by the government. Its mission is to promote and support research into, and development and exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of UK business, in order to increase economic growth and improve the quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).

The Technology Strategy Board's Collaborative Research and Development Programme is investing directly in new and emerging technologies and has been designed to help businesses work with each other or with academic partners to develop technologies that will underpin products and services of the future. Since 2004, the programme has supported about 700 projects across 40 technology areas with a combined business and government investment worth over £1 billion.

On 8 November 2007 the Technology Strategy Board announced a new competition for proposals for collaborative research and development, representing a Government investment of around £100 million. The competition is designed to generate innovative proposals in which the business and research communities collaborate on research and technology projects to deliver successful new products and services.

Submissions have been invited in eight technology areas: Cell Therapy, Material for Energy and High Value Manufacturing (opened 8 November 2007), Low Carbon Energy Technologies, Advanced Lighting, Lasers & Displays and Technologies for Health (opened 19 December 2007), Gathering Data in Complex Environments and Creative Industries (opening 30 January 2008).

For more information about the Technology Strategy Board please visit www.innovateuk.org.

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is a public/private partnership, backed by companies including BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON, Rolls-Royce and Shell. Public sector funding is from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), with some additional funding from the Department for Transport. The ETI’s mission is to accelerate the development, demonstration and eventual commercial deployment of a focused portfolio of energy technologies, which will increase energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve energy and climate change goals. www.energytechnologies.co.uk

Issued by

Nick Sheppard
Media Relations Manager
Technology Strategy Board
Block B, North Star House
North Star Avenue
Swindon
SN2 1JF

Switch: +44 (0)1793 442700
Direct: +44 (0)1793 442772
Mobile: +44 (0)7824 599644
e-mail: nick.sheppard@tsb.gov.uk