Funding competition SBRI: agile and self-powered public space CCTV

Organisations can apply for a share of up to £150,000 to develop solutions that will improve South Ayrshire Council’s public space CCTV operation.

Competition opens: Monday 8 January 2018
Registration closes: Wednesday 14 March 2018 12:00pm

This competition is now closed.

Description

South Ayrshire Council (SAC) operates CCTV within each of its town centres.

SAC’s current CCTV system has been in place for more than 20 years. The council needs to work with partners to develop a single system with flexible cameras to tackle issues such as crime and public safety.

The system should be self-powered, suitable for many different surfaces and not reliant on aerial platform vehicles or specialist fitting. This adaptable approach will meet the requirements of the forthcoming changes to the Global Data Protection Regulations.

This is a 2 phase competition. The second phase involves prototype development and testing.

Funding type

Procurement

Project size

Projects should range in size up to total costs of £30,000 per organisation. We expect to fund up to 5 projects for up to 6 months.

Find out if you are eligible to apply

To lead a project, you can:

be an organisation of any size
work alone or with others as subcontractors (businesses, research base and third sector)

Projects that we won’t fund

In this competition, Innovate UK is not funding projects covering new CCTV transmission methods.

Funding and project details

The overall programme will be delivered over 2 phases.

Phase 1

Research and development (R&D) contract: feasibility study

SAC will award R&D contracts to demonstrate the technical feasibility of potential solutions.

Your proposal should include:

details of how you plan to carry out the R&D project
a breakdown of your proposed costs
a plan for the ongoing support of your proposed tool or service
a plan for commercialisation

If your proposal is successful, we will expect you to work with SAC to:

support the development of the solution
support the user experience
confirm solution works

R&D will be 100% funded. We will select suppliers for each project through an open competition process. You will keep the intellectual property rights generated from the project. SAC will keep some rights of use.

Phase 2

Research and development contracts: prototype development and testing

SAC will award research and development contracts to businesses chosen from the successful phase 1 applicants. There will be up to £150,000 (including VAT) of funding for each contract. This will be to develop a prototype and undertake field testing within South Ayrshire public spaces.

A total of up to £300,000 (including VAT) will be allocated to phase 2 of the competition.

A decision to proceed with phase 2 will depend on the outcomes from phase 1. Only successful applicants from phase 1 will be able to take part in phase 2.

Project types

We are specifically looking for:

a technical design specification package, including detailed specifications for the final technology solution
commercial or financial specification, specifying what investments are required, such as equipment costs
R&D methodology and final report. This should outline all R&D undertaken and give evidence that the various technological components can meet the requirements of the challenge set. This should also specify that the equipment complies with all UK and European standards, codes of practice and directives

Competition scope

The aim of this competition is to develop innovative solutions for agile and self-powered public space CCTV.

Your solution must meet these requirements.

Does not rely on a power supply and power replacement, but can feed into a power supply where one is available.
Can be transmitted using several recognised methods, such as IP or cloud-based, wireless or network. Analogue may still be suitable until other forms of transmission are available.
Can be swiftly and securely attached to a variety of surfaces with minimum resources (ideally one employee) and with no reliance on an aerial platform vehicle or equivalent.
Is robust enough to be protected from the elements and have a low risk of being vandalised.
Is easily repaired, maintained and replaced if damaged or broken.
Has a pan-tilt-zoom functionality where required.
Can provide effective HD image transmission.
Meets the requirements of the Data Protection Act, especially the guidance in the CCTV Code of Practice and the forthcoming Global Data Protection Regulation in 2018.

Applications must attribute at least 50% of the contract value directly and exclusively to R&D services. R&D can cover exploring solutions and design. It can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. R&D does not include:

commercial development activities such as quantity production
supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs
integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

8 January 2018: Competition opens
2 February 2018: Briefing event for applicants in Ayr. Read the presentation and Q&A.
14 March 2018 12:00pm: Registration closes
21 March 2018: Phase 1 application deadline.
21 March 2018 12:00pm: Competition closes
31 May 2018: Applicants notified
30 June 2018: Phase 1 contracts awarded.
30 June 2018: Feedback provided.

Before you start

To apply:

the lead applicant must register online. Please note that you must complete a separate registration for each proposal submitted
read the invitation to tender, which will be available for you to download from our secure site after registration
complete and upload your online application for phase 1. You must complete a separate form for each innovation proposed

We will not accept late submissions. Your application is confidential.

A panel of selected experts will assess the quality of your application. We will then choose the best proposals from those that meet the aims of this competition.

Guidance for applicants

Please read the guidance for applicants, which also contains the application questions for this competition. It will help your chances of submitting a successful application.

Background and further information

South Ayrshire Council

The council is one of 32 councils in Scotland that operate traditional ‘town centre’ public space CCTV. The CCTV market extends beyond this into public sectors such as housing, traffic, education, health and social care.

SAC is developing its corporate CCTV strategy to reflect its future needs, so it is ideally placed to exploit the development and application of innovations.

About SBRI competitions

SBRI provides innovative solutions to challenges faced by the public sector. This can lead to better public services and improved efficiency and effectiveness. SBRI supports economic growth and enables the development of innovative products and services. It does this through the public procurement of research and development (R&D). SBRI generates new business opportunities for companies and provides a route to market for their ideas. It also bridges the seed funding gap experienced by many early-stage companies.

Further help and information

You can find information on how to enter this competition in the invitation to tender document, which is available for download on our secure site after registration.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact the Knowledge Transfer Network.

If you need more information, contact the competition helpline on 0300 321 4357 or email us at support@innovateuk.gov.uk

Questions on the scope of this competition should be addressed to james.andrew@south-ayrshire.gov.uk

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