Notice

Competition guidance for SBRI: modernising energy data access, phase 1

Published 16 October 2019

1. Dates and deadlines

Open date	21 October 2019
Briefing event	16 October 2019
Registration close	2 January 2020
Close date	8 January 2020
Applicants notified	25 February 2020

This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition. 100% funding is available to successful applicants.

Please read the full competition scope before you make your application.

These guidance notes complement the invitation to tender, which can be found on the secure file transfer protocol (FTP) site. They are designed to help with completing the application form.

Please read the full set of competition documents on the FTP site before you submit your application.

2. How to apply

Before you apply into this SBRI competition, it is important to understand the whole application process. The information below is specific to this competition and may differ from Innovate UK’s general guidance for applicants.

All applications will be treated in confidence.

The application process for the SBRI competition requires the completion and correct submission of the application form.

We strongly advise you read the accompanying guidance notes before you submit.

When you have received your unique username and password, you can sign in to the secure website to access additional documentation for this competition.

Appendices must conform to the guidance below or your application will be ineligible and will not be sent for assessment.

Submit your documents

You must submit:

• your application form with your unique application number for this competition
• project appendices as PDF documents, labelled with your application number

Assessment

After the competition submission deadline, we will send your application for assessment.

Notification

We will notify you of the outcome of your application on the date stated in the timeline.

Feedback

We will give feedback to successful and unsuccessful applicants approximately 4 weeks we notify you of the decision. You can access the feedback by signing in to the secure website where you uploaded your application documents. No additional feedback can be provided and there will be no further discussion on the application.

3. Application form

This section explains the structure of the application form and offers guidance on what to answer in each question.

All sections are mandatory.

Please make sure that you upload the final version of your application by the deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not upload a blank or incomplete application form. Read these notes together with the application form. They are designed to help you provide the information required. Please do not exceed text limits, as this will result in your application being rejected.

We will email you a reference number once you have registered for the competition. You will need to register separately for each application you want to submit.

Complete the application form using a font size no smaller than 10 (Arial). Keep the use of acronyms to a minimum and be sure to define them. Only use acronyms where a term is mentioned frequently throughout the proposal. Bear in mind that individual sections of the application may be read separately during the selection process.

You must submit all the required information, including all fields from the application form. Incomplete applications will be rejected.

The application is split into 3 sections:

1. Project details
2. Application questions
3. Finances

1. Project Details

This section sets the scene for the assessors and is not scored.

Application team

Decide which organisations will work with you on the project. Invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.

Application details

The lead applicant must complete this section. Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Is the application a resubmission?

Public description

Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope it will not be eligible for funding.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score your answers. You will receive feedback from them for each one.

Your answer to each question can be up to a maximum of 600 words long. In addition, a 4 page appendix must be submitted alongside question 5 (technical demonstration) and question 8 (risks and issues). An additional one page appendix per question can be used if deemed necessary.

Question 1. The opportunity

What is your understanding of the market opportunity with respect to better use of data in the energy market? Describe and explain:

• the main motivation for the project
• the work needed to stimulate wider market forces to deliver
• the potential value to consumers
• practices from other markets that the energy sector could use
• the current state-of-the-art tools and processes, including those near market or in development, and their limitations and blockers
• work you have already done to respond to this need and whether the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one
• the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations, using our Horizons tool (https://ktn-uk.co.uk/programmes/horizons) if appropriate
• if this project could go ahead in any form without public funding and the difference the public funding would make, such as a faster route to market, more partners or reduced risk

Question 2. The users

Who are the users of your innovation?

Describe or explain:

• who the end-users that will benefit from your innovation are and your understanding of their needs
• who the direct users that will work with your innovation are, and your understanding of their needs
• who the wider stakeholders are, and your understanding of the market outcomes they are seeking
• the subcontractors (if any) you will need to work with in order to deliver your innovation and what role are they expected to need to play
• the relevant public bodies and energy sector organisations, and how will you involve them in your project

Question 3. Approach

What approach will you take to deliver your innovation successfully to market? Tell us:

• the main features that characterise your delivery practices
• why these are effective for bringing consumer-led innovation to market
• what you need in place to be able to deliver effectively (the “entry criteria” for your work to begin)
• how you are ensuring your entry criteria are met
• your ‘exit criteria’ to demonstrably complete the next phase of your work (Discovery, Alpha or Beta phase for instance)
• your specific approach to agile working practices, including how you intend to conduct public or inclusive ‘show and tell’ presentations, including at the end of the first project phase

We expect you to be flexible in the delivery of each phase in line with an agile approach to work, but please describe:

• the main work packages of the project, indicating the lead subcontractor (where appropriate) assigned to each and the total cost of each
• the management reporting lines
• your project plan, in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones

You must submit an outline project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 4. Capabilities

What capabilities (technology, process, and people) are required to conduct the next phase of work? Describe:

• the types of role and skills your team will need to deliver the next phase of work (Discovery, Alpha or Beta phase)
• the resources, equipment and facilities your team needs to deliver the first phase of work
• any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out your project
• the relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the current project
• roles you will need to recruit for and how you plan on ensuring recruitment does not block progress for your project

Question 5: Technical demonstration (data architecture)

What is your current understanding of how your project might change and improve the technical landscape? This might include topics like:

1. Data characteristics, such as:

   • frequency of data refresh
   • granularity of resolution
   • access privileges (shared, public, open)
   • representations (fully disaggregated to highly aggregated) and
   • master data management (MDM), such as data models, version control and slowly changing dimensions

2. Reproducible, unchanged data pipeline products and the capability to deliver these from original source data and protocols.

3. Error resilience and software alternatives to data quality challenges.

4. Interoperability of information across independently governed digital infrastructure, particularly referring to the ‘building blocks’ identified by the Energy Data Taskforce.

5. Integrated data discovery both within energy sector datasets and with externally relevant information.

6. Either:

   • scalability, availability and resilience of infrastructure, such as high-performance querying and visualisation across both geospatial and energy-specific criteria
   • or bulk data access storage and privilege-based access challenges

7. Standardised, well-documented and open source interfaces.

8. The nature of the outputs you anticipate the project might deliver (for example: reports, demonstrators, know-how, new process, products, service design) and how these help meet user needs.

You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 6. Route to market

How are you going to encourage use of your innovation, grow the marketplace and realise consumer benefits into the long term? Describe or explain:

• how you will ensure your users (see question 2) gain value from the service, for example why they would use or buy your product
• what kind of supply or value chain you anticipate will be needed for successful growth of the market, and how will your project will help create i
• if you will be extending or establishing your market position
• how your organisation is going to benefit from the innovation, such as in revenues, cost reduction, expertise and value adding services, or entry into other markets
• how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term
• how will ensure you and your market exploit the outputs of the project, given the expectation that intellectual property is to be treated as open source
• how you will encourage the sector to use your innovation to offer better data-related products and services to the market

If there is any academic or research organisation in the project team, describe:

• how you will disseminate and share the results with the research community
• how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities

Question 7. Measuring impact

How do you expect to measurably demonstrate the market impact of your innovation? Describe and explain, using quantitative methods where possible:

• the economic benefits resulting from the project to your users (see question 2) and any other parts of the supply chain, broader industry and the UK economy, such as productivity increases and import substitution
• the impact on government priorities and any associated benefits with this
• environmental impacts, either positive or negative
• any expected regional impacts
• the impacts on consumers (both individuals, and collectively)
• the quantitative measures you expect to use

Describe the expected social impacts, either positive or negative on, for example:

• quality of life
• social inclusion or exclusion
• jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them
• education
• public empowerment
• health and safety
• regulations
• diversity

Question 8. Risks and Issues

How will you manage risks and issues affecting delivery?

• what risks and issues are you presently aware of, such as technical, political, commercial, managerial and environmental factors, providing a risk register if appropriate
• how will you ensure that you identify new risks or issues early
• what approaches will you take to monitoring and mitigating risks and issues
• for the risks or issues you are already aware of, what specific mitigation actions are you putting in place
• how will you raise awareness of risks or issues with stakeholders
• any potential regulatory or policy barriers to implementing your innovation, and your proposed approach to overcoming them

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 9. Assurance

How will you make sure your innovation meets the needs of your users throughout its delivery? Tell us:

• how you will ensure you have a robust and up to date understanding of your users’ needs (see question 2)
• how you will ensure your work is effective at delivering your users’ highest priority needs
• how you will ensure your work meets the needs intended

Question 10. Cost and team

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team (cost versus expertise) and the taxpayer? You should also consider your resource requirements and value for money across phases 2 and 3 (noting these assumptions will be refined during the course of phase 1). Describe or explain:

• the expected team (in terms of organisations who are subcontracting for you, giving the personnel and roles)
• any roles you will need to recruit for
• a cost breakdown of your full resourcing requirements to deliver the work
• the total eligible project costs and the grant you are requesting in terms of the project goals
• how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer
• how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise
• the balance of costs and grant across the project partners
• any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to the project

3. Finances

For full details on what costs you can claim please see our project costs guidance.

The costs you quote must reflect actual costs at a ‘fair market value’ and not include profit.

Provide a summary of costs for phase 1, including VAT. Justify each cost. If you have made significant use of subcontractors, explain how and the costs of each.

Assessors are required to judge the application finances in terms of value for money, deciding whether the proposed cost for effort and deliverables reflects a fair market price.