Author: UKRI

The early-stage feasibility projects will use the funding to assess and test new ideas, determining their viability before committing to larger-scale projects. These projects have the potential to enhance the nutritional quality of food and beverage products consumed by the UK population, ultimately supporting health and wellbeing at any point across the life course. Unhealthy diets and strained food system Unhealthy diets are a key driver of global health issues, including obesity and malnutrition. In the UK, most people fall short of dietary guidelines for key nutrients and food groups, like fruits, vegetables, and fibre, which are all part of…

The health research programme was set up with funding from UK Research and Innovation’s Accelerating Detection of Disease Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK. It is an ambitious collaboration between the public sector, life sciences companies and leading UK health charities. The programme aims to transform the prevention, detection and treatment of conditions such as: dementia cancer diabetes heart disease stroke With eventually up to five million volunteers right across the UK, the goal is to create one of the most detailed pictures ever of people’s health. Research that benefits everyone Our Future Health also has the largest ever number of…

Further information Ofgem SIF: round three alpha: innovation projects approved for funding Energy networks with projects approved Lead project partner: Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Distribution Network type: electricity Number of approved projects: one Lead project partner: National Grid Electricity Distribution Network type: electricity Number of approved projects: three Lead project partner: Northern Power Grid Network type: electricity Number of approved projects: three Lead project partner: National Grid Electricity Transmission Network type: electricity Number of approved projects: two Lead project partner: UK Power Networks Network type: electricity Number of approved projects: five Lead project partner: Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Transmission Network type: electricity Number of…

The finalist announcement Artificial intelligence (AI) glasses to navigate environments and a smartwatch that learns daily routines are among five groundbreaking technologies that have been named as finalists in the £4.4 million Longitude Prize on Dementia. The prize is rewarding the creation of new assistive technologies that use AI to transform how people live with dementia, so that they can maintain their independence for longer. The global challenge prize is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works (part of Nesta). Why dementia? One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in…

Innovate UK and OLS will invest £4 million in six projects as part of the advancing precision medicines competition. The OLS funding is part of the Life Sciences Vision Cancer Mission. This announcement follows on from one in 2023, which saw seven cancer projects awarded a share of £4.5 million. Better diagnosis and improved patient outcomes Precision medicine offers new ways of treating disease by tailoring treatments to the individual patient and can enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis of diseases, including cancer. The six projects funded by Innovate UK and OLS are intended to improve patient outcomes. The improvements…

The UK relies on effective environmental monitoring to support decision making, for example on actions needed to tackle the impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Some traditional methods of environmental monitoring can be slow, limited in scope and unable to capture the full complexity of these rapidly evolving issues. Growing urgency There is growing urgency to protect natural resources and mitigate environmental threats, as well as a global need for more advanced, comprehensive and efficient monitoring solutions. The UK environmental monitoring sector has access to a wide range of cutting-edge facilities and academic research and expertise, so is…

This landmark achievement has been conducted by a large international collaboration of scientists, called the FlyWire Consortium, including researchers from: the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology Princeton University the University of Vermont the University of Cambridge It is published in a pair of papers in Nature today (see the ‘further information’ section for links to the papers). 139,255 neurons The diagram of all 139,255 neurons in the adult fly brain is the first of an entire brain for an animal that can walk and see. Previous efforts have completed the whole brain diagrams for much smaller brains.…

The new investment aims to: scale up semiconductor manufacturing within the UK improve supply chain resilience within the UK establish innovations and new manufacturing techniques expand capability or performance of existing manufacturing techniques encourage relationships between product designers and manufacturers to develop new manufacturing techniques or expanding capability encourage new collaborations across industry and academia National semiconductor strategy This is the final competition which forms part of an £18 million programme supporting the UK government’s national semiconductor strategy. The strategy plans to build on the UK’s strengths in semiconductors to grow the sector, increase our resilience and protect our security.…

Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, will invest £3.2 million in seven innovative projects to help propel the decarbonisation of the UK’s concrete industry. The seven projects receiving funding Cemcor Ltd The funding will aid development of calcined clay from low-grade sources, to produce a new generation of low-carbon cement and concrete. Cocoon Carbon Ltd The funding will support work scaling the production of a novel cementitious material from electric arc furnace steel production. Skanska UK Ltd The funding will continue repurposing excavated London Clay in concrete applications. Cemex UK Operations Ltd The funding will aid development of combining micronised…

Generative AI Generative AI is a broad label used to describe any AI that can be used to create new content such as text, images, video, audio or code. It is a fast emerging and evolving technology that can present opportunities and bring benefits in the context of research and innovation by: facilitating creativity and the development of ideas providing a useful tool for people who have neurodivergencies reducing language barriers Generative AI also presents potential risks for research and innovation which can compromise the integrity of the application and assessment process. Upholding integrity Integrity is critical to upholding the…