Defence seeks all kinds of ideas
To assist the faster transfer of ideas into products, the Ministry of Defence has set up the Centre for Defence Enterprise's "The Portal", through which people with products and ideas can now quickly and relatively easily submit them for evaluation for possible development.
Dr Helen Almey, head of Defence Technology Enterprise claimed that more than 90% of submissions are now assessed within 15 working days, and that to date, they have funded more than 1,300 proposals, including 12% of "Open innovation proposals" and 25% of "Themed call proposals." 60% of contracts have been placed with SMEs and many of the developments have further applications in the civilian sector, particularly medical.
Successful past projects include: PneumaCare, which enables the diagnosis of lung problems using digital camera capture of patient breathing; the Fraser-Nash "Ex Fix" exercise bike to assist the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered leg injuries and are equipped with fixators; d3o material for protecting against impact injuries (Eureka November 2004)and the Shadow Robot Dextrous hand (Eureka July 2002) for telerobotics.
