Are you working (or wanting to work on) a vocational education project that uses technology to help improve adult education? Charitable trust Ufi may be able to help, with its new seed funding program offering up to £50,000 of funding for projects lasting 12 months.
As the name suggests, the Ufi VocTech Seed fund is intended to support innovative and creative projects at a relatively early stage of development. It is open to all industries, sectors and technologies.
“The goal is to give people the knowledge and skills necessary to get and keep a job”
Liz Dobree, Deputy CEO at Ufi, tells us: “Ufi funds projects across the UK to develop new ways to use technology for adult vocational learning – i.e. age 16 and beyond. The goal is to give people the knowledge and skills necessary to get and keep a job and to build a career, and gives UK employers the workforce skills they need to be productive and competitive.”
Funding and collaboration
It’s not just funding on offer either, as Liz explains: “We aim to provide more than just the money, by creating a community of VocTech organisations and having an experienced project manager support funded projects together with experts in learning design, commercialisation and tech, amongst other areas.”
You can see previous seed-funded projects in this UFI Showcase brochure, including one very close to home: “Award-winning Nano Simbox (by Interactive Scientific) is the Bristol project that we have just recently awarded a blended fund, having originally received Ufi seed funding,” explains Liz. Nano Simbox lets students engage with the invisible world of atoms and molecules using real time graphics that respond to their touch.
- You may like: Bristol-based entrepreneur Dr Becky Sage from Nano Simbox wins Innovate UK Infocus awards
If you are interested in finding out more the Ufi is holding a couple of VocTech Seed Fund webinars in April and May so you can ask them any pressing questions you may have about the fund. The funding call for the seed fund is open from 24 April to 25 May 2017.
You can see more and register at the the Ufi website and if you are interested in what else the organisation is doing you can follow them on Twitter here: @UfiTrust
