buylotrogold

The below email is about a funding scheme that the NWDA is about to launch, it will pay for people to go to universities for websites and software development (along with many other things). It's 100% funded with eu money and competes directly with many of us. *From:* Jonathan Butters [mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ] *Sent:* 16 September 2008 11:32 *Subject:* NWDA's Innovation Voucher scheme Hi, Have you heard about the Innovation Voucher scheme currently being set up by NWDA? (http://www.nwda.co.uk/working-with-us/supplying-nwda/current-tenders/...) It is raising some major concerns in the product design sector (19 product designers from companies around the UK, including Jab, wrote an open letter about this scheme and other similar ones, which was published in Design Week last week with a response in support of the letter by the Design Council in a separate article). But I suspect it may also be of concern to the local digital content sector too. Under the scheme, SME's will be given £3000 vouchers to engage with a selected panel of Knowledge Providers to do innovative activities. All the regional FE and HE establishments are tendering for it I believe as it will effectively fund their front-end contact and intervention with SMEs. To quote from the tender invitation, these Knowledge Providers are expected to be UK Public Sector Research Establishments or equivalents, Research and Development Organisations, Research and Technology Organisations, Higher Education and Further Education Institutions so it seems clear that the commercial design sector is not anticipated as being part of the selected panel. The applicants will be scored against criteria that will probably favour the HE/FE or larger research _base_d organisations. The tender process is also rather involved and will take a design/creative company several days to complete. Examples of activities covered by the scheme are given as:     * Access to research equipment and expertise     * Analysis of business performance     * Assistance on prototype development     * CAD design     * Develop new business model     * Developing a CRM system     * Evaluation of performance     * Feasibility studies     * Investigating potential new markets     * Management systems and procedures     * Marketing strategies     * Methodology for the calculation of carbon footprint     * New web _base_d marketing tools     * On-line booking system     * Product development     * Software development     * Staff development analysis     * Wastes management advice     * Website development (from http://www.nwda.co.uk/docs/NWDA00269%20PQQ%20Clarification%20Question...) As you can see from this list, many of these activities are exactly what commercial design consultancies exist to do

and competes directly with many of us. actually, if you manage to get in one of those categories ( Research and Development Organisations, Research and Technology Organisations are pretty broad terms), it's a boon for you too... and I don't see how schools and universities could get enough staff to compete .

and competes directly with many of us. actually, if you manage to get in one of those categories ( Research and Development Organisations, Research and Technology Organisations are pretty broad terms), it's a boon for you too... and I don't see how schools and universities could get enough staff to compete . All the application forms and literature are geared towards education institutions. The examples mentioned in that email are universities that used students to complete the work, that's a lot of resources and £3million pounds of tax money to pay them with. It's completely anti-competitive.

Just a quick question: Isn't the whole initiative geared towards SMEs to gain some experience, conduct research, gain access to big resources and so on? If so, why is it so alarming? quoting from the previous email: [these Knowledge Providers are expected to be UK Public Sector Research Establishments or equivalents, Research and Development Organisations, Research and Technology Organisations, Higher Education and Further Education Institutions ] The application forms are for academic institutions providing services to SMEs. They are using public money to take away business from web and software companies.

 It's 100% funded with eu money and competes directly with many of us. Have you read most of the case studies on this page? http://www.indexvouchers.org/case_studies.html I don't know about you, but the vast majority of them don't seem related to web _base_d on my random clicking. Admittedly I have not gone through all of them - I've clicked on about a third of them (8 or so) and only one of them looked like a build and/or design a website , but if the sky is falling email you forwarded was true I'd expect it to be radically different content. eg: *  To undertake market research to identify the producers and         products currently operating and available within the sector the TJ         Composting wish to enter            * To estimate the size of the potential market          _base_d on TJ Composting’s Chemical and physical analysis of their          composts and in consultation with Dr’s Clive Rahn, Ralph Noble and          Debbie Fuller (Warwick HRI) suggest a recipe of plant nutrients and          compost screening that might be further tested to meet the          requirements of their products The challenge included designing a PCB for the Splash Play application:          The PCB incorporates a Bluetooth module and a lithium battery that          connects to a light panel, that’s to be built by SplashPlay as a          separate entity to this project.          The work did not cover PCB manufacture costs and the cost of most of          the components. They therefore required academic assistance in developing an analytical          technique for distinguishing between carbohydrate polymer substrates          in a range of produced fibres. Having performed an initial literature          investigation they envisage that this would initially involve the use          of individual carbohydrate polymer selective staining techniques,          followed by fibre cutting, and examination of surfaces and exposed          cross-sections by particular microscopic techniques. As this was not          their area of expertise the INDEX voucher allowed them to gain access          to the necessary academic assistance. Carried out the following activities relating to the design and          development of DMX lighting controller          Interface for use with Gekko Technology Ltd lighting products.              * Designed Circuit Board              * Designed PCB              * Assembled and tested two PCBs              * Produce all necessary documentation to enable DMX controller           electrics to be manufactured. etc Michael.