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Innovation

Organisations active in Electronics and IT Services need to maintain high levels of innovation in order to survive in today’s highly competitive business environment.

Innovation can manifest itself in many different ways, but in the high-technology businesses involved in Electronics and IT Services, Research and Development activities are often regarded as amongst the highest priorities.

To ensure the interests of the Electronics and IT Services are well represented in the development of the national technology strategy, BIS’s Electronics & IT Services Unit (EITSU) works closely with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). The TSB, which is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS), provides financial programmes of support for collaborative R&D projects that align with the national technology strategies. The sector as a whole has benefited considerably from such support since the TSB programmes were first launched in 2004.

The Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs), now funded by the TSB, provide an essential channel for communications between EITSU and relevant parts of the Electronics and IT services sector. EITSU maintains particularly close links with the Electronics KTN and the Photonics KTN.

In addition to TSB’s national support programmes for R&D, the European Commission Framework 7 Programme commits sizeable funding to activities relevant to the Electronics and IT Services sector. The Unit interfaces with relevant parts of the industry and the Commission to shape the content of, in particular, the ARTEMIS programme on embedded systems, and the Photonics 21 programme.

Contact

Richard Foggie, Electronics & IT Services Unit, tel: 020 7215 1297, email: Richard.Foggie@bis.gsi.gov.uk

Ian Williams, Electronics & IT Services Unit, tel. 020 7 215 1328, email: ian.williams@bis.gsi.gov.uk