Up to £2m up for grabs

The competition is the first in a series run by leap from Pera Technology, which aim to help SMEs that have struggled to secure finance for innovative projects during the recession. The 10 chosen businesses will receive a fully funded application to the European Union's Horizon 2020 science and innovation fund, which launched this year and provides grants of between £400,000 and £2m, to turn new product ideas into commercial prototypes. Once a prototype is developed, Horizon 2020 will give SMEs access to potential investors from across Europe and further afield. Marc Greatrex, head of business development at Pera Technology, said: "Credit rationing during and after the recession has led to many promising ideas failing to make the move from paper to prototype, largely due to lack of available capital investment. With the economic recovery now underway, we're looking to encourage engineers and manufacturers who may have ideas sitting on the shelf gathering dust to step forward and turn them into a commercial reality." Manufacturers can enter the competition for free at www.peratechnology.com/h2020comp Entrants will then be provided with a Non-Disclosure Agreement, following which they can input details of their ideas to Pera Technology's online diagnostic tool. 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 innovation to the next stage. Rapidcool (pictured), designed by London-based Enviro-Cool, has received £760,000 in European Union research funding. It is claimed to cool drinks cans and bottlesin less than 45 seconds.