Timothy Barnes

The Skills England report published last month illustrates the difficulty that officials and their advisors have with reconciling early 20th Century Fabian/Haldane planning mindsets with the 21st Century pace of change and the need to harness the full diversity of human talent, not just traditional filtering for memory and logic - "which any properly programmed computer can handle". The challenges of educating for an AI-driven world were identified over 40 years ago. See "Learning for Change", put on-line for me by the Oxford Internet Institute in 2010. Albeit we used the terms "Intelligent systems" and "Machine Learning" and the "systems" often needed air-conditioned mainframes to drive them. BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Better Hiring Institute (BHI) TechSkills.org Skills England Labour Digital WCIT Financial Services Technology Panel Real Time Club Digital Policy Alliance Digital Leaders https://lnkd.in/efSqwmEZ

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ResearchConnect is highlighting a unique opportunity for UK public sector organisations to maximise the value of their intangible assets. The Knowledge Asset Grant Fund (KAGF), administered by Innovate UK, is exclusively available to UK public sector bodies ready to develop or repurpose their intellectual property, data, software, and other high-potential assets. This fund offers a pathway to commercialisation, repurposing, or expanded use, creating new social, economic, and financial benefits across the UK. If your organisation has untapped knowledge assets, this fund could be the key to unlocking their full impact. Contact ResearchConnect for more information about our specialist funding database https://lnkd.in/e36PnUYm #ResearchConnect #UKPublicSector #Innovation #Funding

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We are excited and proud to share our latest work, an ambitious and innovative new collaboration - UKGrantmaking.org 🎉 The platform brings together data from regulators, funder accounts and data published using the 360Giving Data Standard to provide an interactive way to understand and explore grantmaking in the UK. It is a unique collaboration between 360Giving, Association of Charitable Foundations, ACO - The Association of Charitable Organisations, UK Community Foundations and ourselves, supported by Pears Foundation and CCLA Investment Management. Launched last month, it collates and analyses information available on grants made by UK grantmakers in 2022-23. Providing information on over £20bn of grants from across all grantmaking sectors to the voluntary, community and social sectors, UKGrantmaking is the definitive resource for grantmaking data and insights. Whether you are a funder interested in understanding the context your organisation works in, a charity developing strategies for fundraising, or a researcher/policy maker seeking to understand the trends in grantmaking, take a look at UKGrantmaking to help inform your work. The platform has been designed with interactive visualisations and tables that can be searched, sorted and downloaded, allowing easier access to insight into grantmaking than ever before. The research and analysis will be repeated annually and UKGrantmaking is intended to grow and evolve with each edition. It will enable 360Giving and partners to develop an approach to longer-term analysis that considers trends and provides a source of base data that can be used to “deep dive” into specific areas. We’re pleased that we have been able to bring partners together for this collaborative project to help us better understand grantmaking in the UK - and we’re excited to build on it in the years ahead. We’re proud that everyone can access this valuable data in one place for free, and that it is openly available for people to use for their own purposes. Sharing data in this way will make it easier for everyone to understand, to collaborate, and to support grantmaking to become more informed, effective and strategic. This data analysis would not be possible without the commitment of funders who publish their grant data openly so it can be used for collective research and analysis, so a big thank you to our community of 360Giving data publishers. Explore the platform and let us know what you think! UKGrantmaking.org #UKGrantmaking #OpenGrants #OpenData

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🚨 New report alert! Edge Foundation releases "Flex Without Compromise" - a critical look at the proposed Growth and Skills Levy. Key points: 🔹 Concerns over funding squeeze for apprenticeships 🔹 Potential impact on Youth Guarantee & Growth Mission 🔹 Suggestions to boost apprenticeship opportunities CEO Alice Gardner: "We need solutions now to incentivize apprenticeship growth, especially for young people." Report proposes: ✅ Better SME support ✅ Full funding for under-22 apprentices ✅ Improved application process ✅ Modular apprenticeship model Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ejvpKfra #Apprenticeships #SkillsLevy #YouthEmployment

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There are three key challenges that the new UK government needs to tackle to boost productivity growth: underinvestment, knowledge diffusion and institutional fragmentation. These factors are identified in the #productivityagenda: https://lnkd.in/eyK9aHDV ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council #productivity #growth

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Scottish Enterprise have opened their applications to the new #PathwaystoScale cohort programme for female founders. The programme offers business support, executive education, a 2-day leadership retreat, scaling skills training sessions and a cohort of peers. You will join the existing cohorts as part of this emerging community of high potential female-founded companies.    There is an opportunity for companies on Pathways to Scale to apply for up to £20,000 - a great opportunity for early-stage companies to get some growth funding into the business to help make them more investable.   Spaces are limited and the closing date for applications is: 11:59pm on Tue 22 Oct 2024.   Eligibility: ⭐ Should have a turnover of around £100,000 plus (flexible on this as long as other criteria met) ⭐ Be aiming to raise investment in the next 12 to 18 months & likely have 2 to 10 full-time employees ⭐ Have international ambition with clearly identifiable market opportunities ⭐ Have an innovative, scalable product or service, and a focus on key and future industries, especially in the STEM sectors ⭐ ⭐ You can find more details on the Scottish Enterprise website along with the application form: https://lnkd.in/e7FJEQjC ⭐ #wes #womeninenterprise #womeninbusiness #femaleentrepreneurs #scottishbusinesswomen Women's Enterprise Scotland BAWE - British Association of Women Entrepreneurs

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NEW on Wonkhe: Ben Rogers proposes that there should be regional pots of research funding that can tackle regional challenges, fund innovation and support economic growth https://lnkd.in/eKgbQnYh

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Considering applying for R&D grant funding? Some useful information here!

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Charities and Government Excellent Research from Pro Bono Economics who have published a very useful free resource for charities https://lnkd.in/e_a8ybFN . This says "The 2024 General Election brought 335 new MPs into the House of Commons. For the many charities that seek to influence parliamentarians, this creates a significant challenge. That’s 335 new MPs to research and sift through to try and understand if they might be inclined to support a charity’s cause. "Many small charities cannot afford parliamentary monitoring systems or expensive agencies to do that sifting for them. If hundreds of organisations all undertake the same research into those MPs’ backgrounds, it means massive amounts of duplication and wasted time for already time-starved organisations. Also see https://lnkd.in/ebSvCG_Y which explains that "Experience in the charity sector has accelerated the most dramatically of all with this new Cabinet. #Starmer has appointed eight #Cabinet members who have previously worked within the charity sector. That is a quadrupling of charity experience at the top of government." CFG : Charity Finance Group Charity News Association of Charitable Foundations Association of Chairs The Resource Alliance Charity Excellence - a FREE one-stop-shop for everything a non-profit needs.

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It’s Trustees' Week! 😀 Zoe Amar FCIM’s latest blog is all about what trustees need to know about AI governance. Whether you're a trustee or a charity leader, this is a must read. ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eNbSikjC #TrusteesWeek #ArtificialIntelligence #Trustees #governance #digital

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Our latest blog post dives into the dynamic landscape of grant management in the UK where government policies play a pivotal role in shaping funding priorities across innovation, sustainability, social impact, and education. Explore key policies impacting grant funding in: 🔬 Innovation and Research 🌱 Environmental Sustainability 🌍 Social Impact and Inclusivity 📚 Education and Skills Development Discover how these policies influence fund allocation and operational strategies. Plus, learn how Flexigrant can help. Read the full article https://lnkd.in/g5-abNFN and elevate your grant management game today! #GrantManagement #UKPolicy #Innovation #Sustainability #EDI #Flexigrant #GrantMangementSoftware

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I have worked closely with TheCityUK and its members in recent years to formulate The Labour Party's policies for the financial and professional services sector, and a future Labour Government will build on this important partnership. Labour will unleash the full potential of the City to drive growth by: ✅ Delivering economic stability with tough spending rules, so we can attract investment, and create the conditions for growth ✅ Driving competitiveness by streamlining regulations to unlock billions of pounds of growth and to create thousands of well-paid jobs in financial services and the wider economy ✅ Making the UK a world leader in green finance, delivering a world-leading regulatory framework for net-zero, and partnering with financial services to make Britain a clean energy superpower ✅ Bolstering the growth of regional financial centres alongside established hubs in London and Edinburgh, and empowering the regions to drive growth by taking a full fat approach to devolution https://lnkd.in/eZzZcmfh 

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Our next blog is about how we build strategy around systems thinking and learning. Our grant-making and what we learning will help us to continue to move forward in terms of our funding approaches. It will be interesting to see how it makes sense to you. https://lnkd.in/eT_5hpq6

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FUTURE ECONOMY: Investor partnerships are aimed at supporting SMEs that seek support for R&D projects through Innovate UK grant funding and that also seek aligned investment from investor partners. Innovate UK currently has 115 investor partners, who are described in a directory 👉 https://lnkd.in/eaA83Sck The broad theme areas for this Investor partnership are: ▪ net zero ▪ health and wellbeing ▪ next generation digital technologies and technology families Potential SME applicants will be able to apply for grant funding for: ➡ feasibility studies, which can have eligible project costs from £50,000 to £300,000, can last between 6 and 12 months and will have grants of up to 70%, with at least the same amount of aligned investment from or led by an investor partner ➡ industrial research projects, which can have eligible project costs from £100,000 to £1 million, can last between 6 and 15 months and will have grants of up to 70%, with at least the same amount of aligned investment from or led by an investor partner ➡ experimental development projects, which can have eligible project costs from £250,000 to £2 million, can last between 12 and 15 months and will have grants of up to 45% for micro and small businesses or up to 35% for medium sized businesses, with at least twice the amount of aligned investment from or led by an investor partner Competition closes: Wednesday 15 May ❌ More details on how to apply 👉 https://lnkd.in/ebqmReR4 Are you thinking of entering this Investor Partnership but need a helping hand with your application? 💡 Innovaction Global's team is ready to boost your chances of success, get in touch via our website. https://lnkd.in/ewzjEM8w #investorpartnership #futureeconomy #netzero #SME #innovation #innovactionglobal #investment #innovateuk #partnership #economu #grant #privateequity

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The messages in The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) new Underfunded and Overlooked report (https://lnkd.in/eKzhb9tp) really hits a nerve at SNAPS Yorkshire CIO as a medium sized charity. At SNAPS, demand for our services has never been higher. This is due to a combination of factors that include many statutory services being cut as well as other local charities having to make the difficult decision to reduce service delivery or close their doors completely. Our families simply have nowhere else to go. Alongside this, funding of small charities has reduced by £4.6 billion post pandemic, whilst costs continue to rise (the report states a 12% increase in costs for small charities). Anyone can do the maths to work out increasing demand, decreasing funds and rising costs simply isn’t sustainable. As Chair of the West Yorkshire Children’s Additional Needs Network (WYCANN), I know that these pressures are being felt by all small to medium sized third sector organisations. We know of many organisations who have had their local authority funding slashed at a time when competition for independent grants has never been higher. This leaves many of these vital community services at real risk of closure which will have a huge impact on their communities and in turn will increase the demand that our social services and NHS face. SNAPS is quoted in the report regarding this issue: “Post-pandemic especially, we have a rising number of families tell us that SNAPS is the only place they can go to for support. The need for great, local, charities has arguably never been higher, and unfortunately, it is extremely likely that more will have to close in the near future due to rising pressures and funding challenges.” Grassroots groups and charities are the organisations who REALLY understand what is needed by their communities and are fleet of foot enough to meet that need quickly and effectively. We see that at SNAPS every day, with our families continually telling us just how important our services are to them. In addition to the adverse effects on the third sector, this chronic underfunding and immense increase in demand is having a huge effect on the people who work in small to medium charities. Sadly, I think we will continue to see fantastic people leave the sector as the pressures of delivering these vital services with our hands tied only grow in the future. Change is urgently needed, and we hope to part of that change going forwards. Ben Robinson

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Some great practical advice here from Gill Pipkin about bid writing. Well worth a read!

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The new framework aims to “enable ICBs to take advantage of the available funding to support uplifted digital tools” as part of the approach for 2024/25 which will see “expanded scope” to include demand and capacity management tools. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eex6bGg3 #digitalhealth

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