Photonics research in the UK is to benefit from £10 million of government funding for a wide range of disciplines, including advanced materials, biosciences, electronics, sensors, and information and communications technology.
Organised by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB), research proposals that will get funding have to be business led and focus on projects that advance the development of a recent technological discovery or breakthrough so it can be broadly applied across a wide range of markets.
This competition for funding has two strands. The first is a single-stage, fast-track, process for projects lasting between 6 and 12 months that must be led by a small and medium sized enterprise (SME). The second strand is a two-stage process for projects lasting between 12 and 24 months, which can be led by a company of any size though each consortium must contain at least one SME partner.
According to the TSB, additional funding may be available from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
