Multi-million-pound innovation competition launched

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 www.peratechnology.com/h2020comp Pera Technology's head of UK business development, Marc Greatrex (pictured), said: "We've seen a huge response to the first round of the competition. There are a number of innovative 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." The deadline for entries is Friday, 21 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. To enter the competition, or to find out more about leap and the funding opportunities available to SMEs looking to undergo new product development programmes, visit: www.peratechnology.com/leap