Professional & Financial Services Data Access Innovation Lab: ESG

Overview

Innovate UK and ESRC (Economic and Social research Council), both part of UKRI (UK Research and Innovation), will invest up to £8 million to develop responsible data access methods in the professional (including legal and accountancy) and financial services sectors (including insurance, lending, advisory, and payment and transaction systems).

This is phase 1 of a 2 phase competition. In phase 1, individuals can apply to take part in a 3 day residential innovation lab on behalf of their organisation.

The innovation lab will run from 10 to 12 October 2023. The participants will work together to develop collaborative proposals for research and innovation projects.

After the innovation lab, during phase 2 of the project, consortia will have 8 weeks to finalise their proposals before submitting them for assessment.

Not participating in the innovation lab does not exclude organisations or individuals from joining collaborations formed during the innovation lab as partners. However, the lead applicant must have attended the innovation lab.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to speed up the responsible adoption of AI and data technologies and solutions in the professional (including legal and accountancy) and financial services sectors (including insurance, lending, advisory, and payment and transaction systems) by enabling better access to data.

The process and activities within the innovation lab may be unconventional, challenging and unexpected. By submitting an application, you are agreeing to take part fully, enthusiastically and constructively.

Project proposals submitted after the innovation lab, must focus on solutions that:

address Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) needs and opportunities
identify and develop data access methods to enable application for one or more of the sectors in scope
address incentives, opportunities and ongoing business models to ensure a sustainable data access approach
consider broader, non-technical aspects of data access methods, including ethics, human behaviour, inclusion, bias and privacy

Your project proposal must:

quantify how the solution can be exploited
address regulatory issues and constraints
evidence potential for impact

Innovate UK want innovation lab attendees to come from a variety of different areas: Professional and Financial Services (PFS), businesses, technology suppliers, research and technology organisations, and public bodies.

Innovate UK intend to fund a variety of projects in phase 2 across the different professional and financial service sectors, technologies and varying technological maturities.

Innovate UK call this a portfolio approach.

Specific Themes

In phase 2, following the innovation lab, we are particularly encouraging applications that:

cover more than one of the listed sectors in professional and financial services
address sector wide needs
are from consortia that include all relevant stakeholders, for example regulators, users, service providers and technology providers
are multi-disciplinary and include social sciences as well as science and engineering
develop solutions benefiting underserved communities and businesses
are ethically appropriate and have evidenced their approaches to ensuring this

Specific themes:

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)

Projects must focus on ESG under this theme.

Projects may explore:

increasing visibility and exploitation of new and emerging data sources in ESG
solutions that tackle market fragmentation around ESG reporting
scalable solutions for companies around non-financial reporting
other societal and governance opportunities

This list is not exhaustive.

Eligibility

To apply to attend the innovation lab, you must:

commit to attending and staying overnight for all 3 days (2 nights) at the UK location, which will be announced in the next few weeks
show you are able to work collaboratively and have the relevant skills, expertise and experience to represent your organisation
describe the data, finances and other resources your organisation can commit
be nominated to act as a representative on behalf of your organisation
attend on behalf of a UK based business, regulatory body, academic organisation, research and technology organisation (RTO) or charity
have the technical or sector expertise necessary to collaborate with other participants on developing solutions to the challenge

In the two weeks prior to the innovation lab, we will have an online webinar to start the process of introductions and background material so that we can make best use of the limited time in the lab. Details will be released closer to the time.

Innovate UK are looking for a broad range of expertise, disciplines and backgrounds, bringing together people who would not normally work collectively. The aim is to ensure diversity of thinking, experience and expertise. We reserve the right to select participants in order to have a balanced representation at the event.

Your application to attend will be considered by a range of assessors, which will include an occupational psychologist.

The assessment will look for evidence that you have:

an open, engaging, flexible, imaginative and creative outlook
the ability to develop innovative ideas
the ability to work constructively with people from diverse disciplines
the enthusiasm needed to work with strangers intensively over 3 days away from home

Consortia created at the innovation lab will submit their collaborative project proposals through phase 2 of this competition on the Innovation Funding Service.

The lead applicant organisation must be a UK based business and must have attended the innovation lab.

To be eligible to submit a final project proposal after the innovation lab each of the organisations in your project team must:

be a UK-based business, regulatory body, academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
carry out its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from the UK

If selected, your phase 2 project must start by 1 April 2024 and be completed by 31 March 2026

The lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding.

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Innovate UK will not accept more than one application from an individual to attend the innovation lab.

Exclusions

Innovate UK will not award you funding at phase 2, if you have:

failed to exploit a previously funded project
an overdue independent accountant’s report
failed to comply with grant terms and conditions

Following the innovation lab, Innovate UK are not funding:

fundamental research
feasibility studies
projects outside of the scope
projects not led by an innovation lab attendee

Funding Costs

Innovate UK will pay your residential and subsistence costs for the innovation lab, excluding alcohol. You will pay your travel costs to and from the event. You will not be paid for innovation lab attendance or proposal development.

You can discuss other costs with Innovate UK and these will be considered on a case by case basis, for example care costs.

For phase 2, we have allocated up to £8 million to fund innovation projects developed based on innovation lab proposals. Each project can claim a maximum grant of up to £2 million.

Any research organisations collaborating as part of a consortium may share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation, this maximum will be shared between them.

Back

R&D Tax Credits

Grant Funding

Other Services

Insights

Events