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UK Government sets up £10m Internet of Things fund

Posted on 22nd July 2015
Category: News

Start-ups challenged to innovate as multi-million pound competition looks to harness the power of technology to create the cities of the future…

A £10 million Internet of Things (IoT) fund has been established by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Innovate UK, with the idea of encouraging UK businesses to envision how the IoT could benefit the general public.

Forward-thinking entrepreneurs who wish to get involved are required to produce a research and development project, detailing how new technology could benefit the economy, local transport networks or healthcare services. To be eligible for funding the the project must involve at least one local authority, have a specific benefit to the general public and be workable across more than one sector.

Image from gettyimages

“The Internet of Things is rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives. The UK technology sector is renowned for its creativity and pioneering research and development. This competition will be instrumental in discovering new connections between city services and their users,” commented digital economy minister Ed Vaizey.

“It will also identify many more advantages that the Internet of Things could offer. IoT is a major area of growth and will have a transformative effect on society – a recent report by Arup estimates that the global value of the IoT sector will exceed £255bn a year by 2020. Cities can use IoT to improve services for their citizens, increase quality of life and make better-informed decisions more quickly. The success of cities will depend on them working in new ways with new partners.”

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things is the network of physical objects such as fridge freezers, cars or watches – for example – embedded with electronics and software to connect them to the internet, thus allowing the objects to exchange data and be controlled remotely. In theory, anything with an on or off switch can be connected to the IoT, it’s estimated that by 2020 there will be over 26 million connected devices.

The competition is part of a wider £40 million government project to create the UK cities of the future. To find out more about the competition, you can head across to the government website.