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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what guidance she has issued to the assessors of applications for funding to the LINK Programme in respect of the provision of feedback to unsuccessful applicants. [101877] Ms Hewitt: LINK is a pan-government scheme for the support of collaborative research between UK companies and the science base. It consists of a number of individual programmes which have their own management and feedback procedures agreed by the sponsoring Departments in line with overall LINK Scheme guidelines which aim to ensure that constructive and unambiguous feedback is provided. Each programme funds a number of projects. I believe that my hon. Friend has a particular interest in the LINK Basic Technologies for Industrial Applications programme. Within this programme, all projects are assessed by an independent panel against the criteria for support for the programme, which are included in the guidance notes to applicants and published on the programme website at www.basictechnologies.gov.uk. Aspects considered in assessing project proposals include: the level of innovation including the potential for a step-change in industrial capability; the risks and likely rewards in using the new technology; the feasibility of the proposed approach; the quality, relevant expertise and resources of the consortium; the range of potential beneficiaries; the strength of the UK science base in the technical areas involved; the potential for lasting benefit to UK capability beyond the life of the project; and the level of wider industrial interest. The programme coordinator provides feedback on the panel's recommendations to all applicants and has been asked to point out both the strengths and weaknesses in the proposal in line with the assessment criteria above. Where possible, guidance is also provided to the unsuccessful applicants on other possible sources of funding where these can be identified. As 140 outline proposals were received under the current call, it was not possible to provide immediate detailed written feedback to all applicants. However, applicants could telephone or e-mail the coordinator for further feedback on the panel's recommendation and over 50 consortia did. With funds available to offer support to less than 20 projects, only the projects which best met all the criteria were invited to come forward as full proposals and inevitably some good projects were rejected.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

101877; 401 c688-9W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Companies Applications Finance Technology Research Science LINK programme

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk