The Division for Enterprise and Commerce, Problem Works and the Open Information Institute have issued a Good Information Problem with a complete prize fund of £600,000.
The three entities have stated the prize cash will go to “essentially the most modern apps and applied sciences” and that they encourage entrants from the “knowledge and innovation sector” to enter. They’re particularly eager to see concepts that may be utilized in monetary companies, vitality, retail, transport and residential shopping for.
In assist of the problem, Justin Madders, minister for employment rights, competitors and markets, stated: “Good knowledge has the potential to supercharge a wave of modern startups proper throughout the nation. As we’ve seen with open banking, which has raised over £2bn of personal funding, I hope different sectors can make the most of the competitors to supply actual change for customers and enhance financial progress proper throughout the nation.”
The federal government hopes that the UK’s previous function in selling open banking, which permits for monetary knowledge to be shared between banks and different third events by software programming interfaces (APIs), generally is a mannequin for utilizing sensible knowledge to enhance companies for customers and small companies.
The three sponsoring entities stated the most important hurdle going through knowledge technologists is a scarcity of real-world “sensible knowledge”. Profitable groups will acquire unique entry to a “sensible knowledge sandbox” that has been constructed for the prize to check and develop their concepts into working prototypes.
The concept appears to be to reward cross-sector applied sciences that profit customers and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), growing competitors and rising the economic system.
The sandbox includes artificial knowledge – which is knowledge artificially made, not generated from real-world actions – from a number of datasets about individuals and companies throughout 11 knowledge domains, together with banking, insurance coverage, investing, property, vitality and retail. The sponsors stated the prize cash will go to those that establish use instances that use a number of datasets and present advantages for individuals and enterprise that can final.
The Good Information Problem Prize is … calling on various innovators from throughout trade, academia and civil society to enter their sensible knowledge options that can make individuals’s lives higher and simpler Holly Jamieson, Problem Works
Holly Jamieson, govt director of Problem Works, which is a part of Nesta, a government-supported charity that encourages innovation, stated: “The Good Information Problem Prize is an open innovation competitors – it’s calling on various innovators from throughout trade, academia and civil society to enter their sensible knowledge options that can make individuals’s lives higher and simpler. Problem prizes have a confirmed monitor document of making alternatives for modern entrants, startups and entrepreneurs as a result of they assist one of the best concepts regardless of their origin.”
Louise Burke, CEO of the Open Information Institute, stated: “The largest impediment going through sensible knowledge innovators proper now’s the shortage of real-world sensible knowledge obtainable to them. To experiment, iterate and scale proofs of idea, innovators want entry to high-quality, strong and safe knowledge to display how their concepts will create lasting advantages for individuals and companies. The sensible knowledge sandbox will deliver collectively knowledge on individuals and companies throughout 11 broad knowledge domains. It would allow innovators to develop their concepts into prototype options to display the viability and advantages of sensible knowledge in numerous sectors.”
The Good Information Problem Prize follows on from a smaller Good Information Discovery Problem, which was launched beneath the Conservative authorities in October 2023 and named winners in March 2024.
The winners of that smaller-scale problem embrace Rodeo, an app to assist gig employees perceive their variable pay to plan their funds, and Mealia, an app that integrates grocery store knowledge to suggest price financial savings and more healthy consuming.
Challenges being focused by this new competitors embrace the price of residing, the transition to wash energy and web zero, bettering entry to companies, making a aggressive degree enjoying subject for SMEs, and supporting susceptible prospects.
In Might 2025, 10 finalists shall be supported with seed funding of as much as £50,000, mentoring and entry to the sandbox. In autumn 2025, an total winner shall be awarded £50,000. There shall be two runner-up prizes of £25,000.
By the prize, the federal government hopes to achieve perception into a variety of in-depth, examined use instances throughout a wide range of sectors, offering a transparent image of the potential boundaries to growth.
Entries to the Good Information Problem Prize have to be UK-led. The time limit is 14 March 2025.
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