Competition for Tech Firms with Innovative Ideas to Improve Public Services and Win Public Contracts

The UK government has announced a competition for tech firms to come up with innovations that will improve public services, writes Computer Weekly, encouraging better use of technology in the public sector, and connecting tech suppliers to potential customers in government. The competition is for UK tech firms to help solve the country’s social challenges, using funding from the £20m GovTech challenge fund. Challenges to tackle include the data economy, healthy ageing, mobility and clean growth. Successful firms will be awarded up to £50,000 to develop their ideas, and those providing the “best potential solutions” will be awarded research and development (R&D) contracts with up to £500,000 to create prototypes of their products, which will then be available for public sector buyers. Tech companies can begin bidding for funding on 14 May for a period of six weeks. Read more here.