Innovate UK is targeting wearable tech innovation, announcing an investment of up to £210,000 in a wearable funding competition.
With the opportunity to work with the likes of McLaren and Disney, six companies will be chosen to receive £35,000 to develop their proposed wearable technologies.
Successful applicants will then be able to trial proposed solutions with their industry partners for at least three months.
Innovate UK has set out six contest challenges within the competition. The first, which boasts McLaren and Loughborough University as industry partners, seeks to bring together sport and wearable technology, to enhance the comfort, safety and performance of users.
Disney is the industry partner for the second challenge, which seeks to create a fun, wearable device for kids, exploring areas such as entertainment, personalisation, usability, safety and connectivity.
The third challenge focuses on improving the guest experience and/or efficiency of staff, through wearables. Industry partner glh hotels is looking to offer the successful applicant a unique ‘living laboratory’ in one or more of their flagship hotels across London to trial the winning solution.
Amey and Network Rail lead the fourth challenge, which seeks wearable technology solutions that provide an interface between the environment, external data feeds and the individual. The aim is to reduce the risk of injury to workers performing tasks in challenging environments.
The penultimate challenge, set in partnership with Atos, seeks an elegant solution that harnesses the potential of wearable technologies to improve digital accessibility among those with cognitive and/or physical disabilities.
The sixth and final challenge, in partnership with Queen Mary University London (QMUL), seeks to enable seamless and efficient interfaces between wearable devices and textile electronics, to enable integration with a wider range of applications.
The competition opens on 12 January 2015 and the deadline for applications is 10 March 2015.
