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As someone busy creating a new start-up, I periodically go back to the Innovate UK site and then just as quickly reject it again. Having worked in the public sector extensively it very much runs along the lines of bids. The process is designed to fundamentally exclude small entities, it is there as a mechanism to provide funding to larger organizations who subsidize their R&D costs using government money despite being cash rich and highly profitable. These companies have specific in house teams that shape their business activities in such a way that they fit the funding requirements. It seems very ill fitting for its so called intended purpose, but like so many government schemes it has attracted those shady companies that thrive on public sector money. Many of these companies don't have any particular speciality, their area of expertise is winning government bids and restructuring to attract grants. Innovate UK is really just a cloak and dagger way of the gov getting around the issues of subsidizing private businesses. Most start-ups are horribly starved for support and it has to be hurting UK competitiveness now. It doesn't help that all the UK funded 'innovation support agencies' effectively are just the same failure in another form, mopping up the funding without actually providing any value to the communities they are being paid to assist. If you ever have tried to interact with any of them you'd soon realize there is absolutely no substance there. The government needs to not only invest, it needs to check that investment is being utilized effectively. Right now it feels like they hand over the money and then turn a blind eye. Most real innovation comes at the grass-roots level, large companies lack the agility and appetite for risk. The UK gov provides absolutely no support at that first rung level.

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