Prior Information Notice (EOI) - UKRI Innovate UK Newton Fund India Incubation Programme

UKRI's Innovate UK intends to procure the services of a supplier/s who can design and deliver a programme which will help build and increase the capacity in India to create digital start-ups which can effectively address societal challenges. We are calling this activity the India Digital Incubation (IDI) Programme.

This procurement will form part of Innovate UK's delivery partner commitment to the Newton Fund. The Newton Fund (www.newtonfund.ac.uk) aims to promote the economic development and social welfare of partner countries, by strengthening their science and innovation capacity through partnership with UK businesses and academia.

This contract will be for an approximately 13 month programme which will be run in partnership with the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and specifically their Start-up Hub (see https://meitystartuphub.in/) and has the following three aims: 1. To build the capacity of selected Indian incubators to incubate impact-driven Indian start-ups and UK impact-driven start-ups with an interest in building new solutions in partnership with Indian organisations 2.

To facilitate collaborations between UK and Indian start-ups to address certain (Sustainable Development Goals) 3. To strengthen the capacity of selected Indian start-ups to achieve impact with their products and services Strand 1: Incubator CEO Training MeitY is supporting the development of 51 Tech incubators across India within academic and research institutions.

The CEOs of these centres are mostly from academic backgrounds and would benefit from an immersion in the latest thinking on how to run tech incubators. This strand will bring a cohort of 15 of these CEOs to the UK to train them in how to run a successful incubator.

Strand 2: Incubation of Indian Digital Start-ups in the UK A cohort of 10-15 Indian impact-driven start-ups come to the UK for an incubation programme. They will be encouraged and supported to build collaborations with UK organisations with whom they can then deploy their new solutions across the developing world.

The Supplier will need to design and deliver this incubation programme. Strand 3: Incubation of UK Start-ups in India A cohort of 10-15 UK impact-driven start-ups will travel to India for an incubation programme at an incubator run by one (or more) of the participants in Strand 1.

As part of the programme, they will be encouraged and supported to build collaborations with Indian organisations with whom they can they deploy their new solutions to development challenges across the developing world. The Supplier will be required to recruit and prepare the UK participants to travel to India for this incubation programme.

Additional information: This Prior Information Notice is being issued in order to undertake a market consultation exercise with regards to the requirements detailed above. UKRI Innovate UK intend to hold a supplier engagement day and/ or individual sessions in order to assess the market's appetite, and view on the approach to procuring the requirement.

Dates and times for the engagement activities will be communicated after the close date for expressions of interest. Expressions of Interest to attend must be received at the above email address by no later than 1200hrs BST on Friday 10th January 2020 (the EOI Deadline).

Your email should have the subject heading "UK SBS PR19119 UKRI Innovate UK Newton Fund India Digital Incubation Programme (IDI) PIN EOI" you should include your company name and the names and contact telephone numbers of up to two representatives wishing to attend the engagement event/s and the email address(s) for reply confirmation. The location and agenda for the event/s will be issued after the close date for EOI.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to coordinating access/ attendance arrangements, Expressions of Interest received after EOI Deadline will not be considered and access to the event/s will not be possible. UKRI Innovate UK may consider information and responses received as part of the preliminary market consultation to help inform specification and further decision making in relation to the planning and conduct of the proposed procurement.

For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is not a Call for Competition; a Contract Notice will be issued as a call for competition. Not registering an interest shall not prevent any supplier participating in a future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of preliminary market consultation shall place any supplier at an advantage in a potential procurement process.

Participation in preliminary market consultation will be at each supplier's own cost. UKRI Innovate UK reserves the position not to award a contract. Future procurements - advanced notification on intent: if the UK exits the EU and access to the OJEU is no longer afforded to the Contracting Authority, then all new procurements will utilise the UK Governments own procurement portal.