Mission
Technology capability has grown exponentially around the world.
Across a range of strategic priorities the Government of Jersey is taking a proactive approach to tackling our Island’s complex, longstanding challenges.
Impact Jersey’s £20m Technology Accelerator Programme provides a new and exciting mechanism to engage and activate industry, innovators and entrepreneurs, coordinating resource effort and passion, to help tackle Jersey’s most pressing and urgent challenges, and to capitalise on emerging opportunities.
Recognising that the scheme will develop over time, we will start with a range of smaller programmes so that we can be agile and responsive, building on lessons from early programmes to enable larger-scale impact and change for Jersey.
Operating
Principles
Impact Jersey will be aligned to the following principles.
We see them as living principles as we look to build and operate a scheme that will continue to be fit for purpose for years to come. We will continue to review and refine these principles.
Impact Jersey will focus on initiatives which benefit the Island through the use of technology and are aligned to Ministerial priorities. We will fund projects that can help demonstrate value in a range of ways. Ideas and solutions will provide real impact across social, economic and environmental outcomes, today and in future years.
Impact Jersey will seek to fund initiatives that can provide real additional value for Jersey. Value isn’t just about monetary return.
Impact Jersey will operate in an open and transparent manner with regular public updates on progress and well-defined communication and engagement plans.
Impact Jersey will follow a ‘learn, adapt and share’ approach, as we continually evolve and iterate our processes and methods used in our programmes and projects. We will share our learnings publicly to make sure we can help shift the dial and strengthen our local technology and innovation eco-system.
Impact Jersey will make engagement easy and will itself make best use of technology to reduce the administrative burden for applicants.
Impact Jersey will seek out and work collaboratively with partners locally and across the world, bringing together ideas and solutions to deliver impact for Jersey and forge new and enduring public-private partnerships. The first open programme will be exclusively delivered by Jersey based businesses, whereas future programmes will seek a wider range of partners and contributors.
Programme Design
To address the island’s strategic priorities Impact Jersey has been designed to deliver two specific types of programme.
The different programme types allow for both open innovation to address a wide range of problem statements but also challenge innovation which targets a specific problem statement.
01. Open Programme
An Open Programme will ensure that Jersey entrepreneurs and businesses can bring their ideas to the table. We anticipate that this will operate in a similar way to Innovate UK Smart Grants, with smaller allocations of funding released to help stimulate and support the implementation of technology solutions that meet our strategic priorities. The challenge statement would be wide and inclusive to enable many different types of solutions to be brought forward.
02. Challenge Programme
The second type of programme, a Challenge Programme, has been designed to address specific (and often more complex) challenges and would typically require larger project delivery, financial and non-financial support.
Each programme will consist of one or more projects that together contribute to delivering the identified programme outcomes. Programmes may be developed openly, using a public call for contributors to help define and determine the programme.
Projects may be delivered by partners who have been selected through a competitive process, and also may be directly awarded to an organisation or consortium identified during the programme development.
