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Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin launched the Innovation Initiative’s £6m Accelerator Enduring Challenge today, seeking to fast-track the innovative ideas which will keep the UK and its Armed Forces safe and secure.

Cutting-edge ideas like the life-saving device being developed by the University of Strathclyde to minimise blood loss in severely injured personnel; and 2iC’s state-of-the-art work on secure data exchange between soldiers, vehicles, and bases and between coalition partners and allies. The MOD’s investment in such innovative solutions demonstrates how the government is ensuring our Armed Forces have the most effective and innovative capability available.

The £6m Enduring Challenge is run by the MOD’s new Defence and Security Accelerator and will fast-track the best ideas by funding their development, matching suppliers with expert Innovation Partners, and boosting supplier access to defence. The competition will run regularly, with up to 12 rounds a year.

Opening the competition in London, Minister for Defence Procurement, Harriett Baldwin, said:

The Accelerator Enduring Challenge is another important step in our Innovation Initiative’s aim to transform defence. Backed by a rising defence budget and our £800m Innovation Fund, the Innovation Initiative is transforming Defence’s creative culture.

We are challenging academics and businesses of all kinds to innovate, cooperate, and build mutual security and prosperity as the UK develops its ambitious Industrial Strategy to ensure an economy that works for everyone.

The launch event in London brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, innovation centres, small and medium-sized enterprises, the defence industry and international allies to build the collaborative approach which will deliver cutting-edge defence technology.

The Accelerator Enduring Challenge builds on the previous Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) Enduring competition by increasing funding and access to government. £6m will be available for the first year of the Enduring Challenge, which includes a second phase of new funding. The first phase will look at ideas in their early stages, while the second phase will nurture promising projects, as well as offering an alternative route for more advanced ideas and technologies.

Acting Head of the Accelerator, Rob Solly, said:

Through the Enduring Challenge we are hoping to reach out to a wide supply base, which can provide us with innovative ideas that challenge our ways of thinking and operating. We will then work with selected suppliers to support them in their development towards market delivery.

The first competition of the Accelerator Enduring Challenge is now open, with a deadline of 5 April 2017 to submit proposals. The competition will then operate on a regular basis with up to 12 rounds per year.

More information is available on the Accelerator’s website.

Richard Calvocoressi

Richard Calvocoressi is a Director and Senior Curator of the Gagosian Gallery in London. He was formerly Director of the Henry Moore Foundation (2007-15). From 1987 to 2007 he was Keeper, then Director, of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. From 1979 to 1987 he was a curator at the Tate Gallery, where he was responsible for building up the collections of pre- and postwar European art. He also organised major exhibitions of Jean Tinguely (1982) and Oskar Kokoschka (1986). In Scotland, he acquired important international collections of dada and surrealist art from the estates of Roland Penrose and Gabrielle Keiller and was instrumental in attracting the Anthony d’Offay gift (Artist Rooms) to Edinburgh and London. Richard Calvocoressi has published on various modern and contemporary artists, including Michael Andrews, Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Reg Butler, Lucian Freud, Anselm Kiefer, Yves Klein, Paul Klee, René Magritte, Lee Miller and Henry Moore. He is an Expert Member of the Comité Magritte and a Trustee of the Art Fund. In 2008, he was awarded a CBE for services to the arts, particularly in Scotland. His term will end on the 12th of November 2020.

Leslie Webster

Former Keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europe, and senior curator of the early medieval collections at the British Museum, she specialises particularly in the Anglo-Saxon and Viking period, on which she publishes and lectures widely. Her latest book is Anglo-Saxon Art: a new History (2012). She is currently Honorary Visiting Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. She co-curated four major exhibitions on early medieval themes at the British Museum, and also co-ordinated a series of exhibitions in five major European museums, as part of the European Science Foundation’s Transformation of the Roman World AD 400-900 Project. She has served as a Trustee and committee member on many professional bodies, including the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Archaeological Institute, and the Society for Medieval Archaeology, where she served as President from 2007-10. Other advisory work has included membership of the former English Heritage Museums and Archives Advisory Panel, the British Academy Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Committee, and the National Heritage Memorial Fund Advisory Panel. She is actively engaged in the Staffordshire Hoard Research Project, and is co-editor of the forthcoming publication of this major Anglo-Saxon find. Her term will end on the 17th of February 2020.

Appointments to The RCEWA are made by the Secretary of State. Roles are unremunerated.

This reappointment has been made in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for defined political activity in the last five years to be made public. Neither Richard or Leslie have declared any such political activity.

From: First published: 26 January 2017 Part of: New appointments to the body that oversees the specialist rail police force in Britain. The body that oversees the specialist rail police force in Britain is to be further strengthened by the … read more