New product development firm, Pera Technology has announced the second stage of its multi-million-pound innovation competition. The company is searching for a further 10 small and medium sized engineering and manufacturing firms seeking finance to develop new product and process ideas.
The chosen businesses will receive a fully-funded application to the European Union’s Horizon 2020 science and innovation fund. The fund, launched earlier this year, provides grants of between £400,000 and £2m (€500k and €2.5m), to turn new product ideas into commercial prototypes.
To enter the competition businesses simply need to provide details of their new product idea on Pera Technology’s Horizon 2020 competition website. Entrants will also be provided with a Non-Disclosure Agreement in order to protect their intellectual property.
Pera Technology’s head of UK business development, Marc Greatrex, said: “We’ve seen a huge response to the first round of the competition. There are a number of new product ideas that we are now progressing to the next stage. By extending the competition we’re aiming to help even more local businesses increase product portfolios and generate new revenue.”
All of the submissions will be assessed on a range of criteria including feasibility, commercial potential and originality. For those businesses that aren’t successful Pera Technology will provide detailed feedback on how best to take their new product to the next stage.
Pera Technology’s Horizon 2020 competition is sponsored by Pera International. The deadline for entries is Friday 21st November.
To better help support small and medium sized companies trying to access Horizon 2020 funding, Pera Technology has created a new suite of support services called leap. It covers all areas of new product development including ideas generation, identifying market demand, securing finance, prototype and product development and commercialisation.
