Innovation Support

Innovate UK

Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It is an arm’s length government body charged with accelerating UK economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation.

Innovate UK supports innovators through advice, funding, events and networking

Nesta

Nesta is a global innovation foundation. It is a UK charity that seeks to ‘back new ideas to tackle the big challenges of our time.’  Using their ‘knowledge, networks, funding and skills, we grow new ideas that can change the world for the better’

Research and Innovation Centres

UK Veterinary Schools

The following innovation centres are owned or managed by UK veterinary schools.

Roslin Innovation Centre – The University of Edinburgh

The Veterinary Health Innovation Engine (vHive) – University of Surrey

LBIC (London BioScience Innovation Centre) – Royal Veterinary College

UK Agri-tech Innovation Centres:

The Centres for Agricultural Innovation are a new collaborative model between the agri-tech sector and government. The centres will help the UK:

• turn agricultural innovation into commercial opportunities for UK businesses
• encourage inward investment
• improve farming practice

There are four centres focus on different aspects of innovation or agriculture

Agrimetrics –big data in agriculture

Centre for Crop Health and Protection (CHAP) – crop threats, pests and disease

Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) – livestock technology

Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI) – precision farming

Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC)

Financed by the Scottish Funding Council, in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise, SAIC helps support Scotland’s aquaculture sector to tackle challenges and accelerate growth on a daily basis.

N8 AgriFood

N8 AgriFood is a HEFCE funded ‘interdisciplinary research programme that combines world-leading crop and livestock research with extensive expertise in social sciences in a single research initiative’.

Reports and Papers

Innovation and Disruption explained

The following articles provide a useful introduction to the different types of innovation and the important concept of disruption.

Harvard Business Review: What is Disruptive Innovation? –   Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor and Rory McDonald

Harvard Business Review: The 4 Types of Innovation and the Problems They Solve – Greg Satell

Vet Futures

ViVet was inspired by the joint RCVS / BVA Vet Futures project which was launched in 2014. Through research, roadshows and meetings, and via social media, members of the veterinary profession – including veterinary nurses and practice managers as well as users of veterinary services – came together to express their views on where they saw themselves and the profession by 2030.

The Vet Futures report sets out six ambitions. These coalesced out of the huge amount of information gathered and were identified as being key to the future sustainability of the profession.

At the Vet Futures Summit on 4 July 2016 the Vet Futures Action Plan and the VN Futures Report and Action Plan were launched. The Vet Futures Action Plan included a series of 24 work-streams to be completed over five years (2016-2020), building on the six core themes of: animal health and welfare; veterinary professionals’ wider roles in society; the health and wellbeing of veterinary professionals; diverse and rewarding veterinary careers; sustainable businesses and user-focused services; and leadership.

The Future Of Wearable Healthcare In The Veterinary Profession

Jen Rowland’s visionary essay on “The future of wearable healthcare in the veterinary profession” was the winner of the Vet Futures Veterinary Vision essay competition, 2015.

Seminars and Presentations

RCVS Day 2016

Guest speaker Adam Little DVM delivers his talk at RCVS Day 2016 entitled: ‘Digital practice: the shape of veterinary medicine in 2030‘

Free Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs)

Understanding Exponentials – Singularity University.

This three hour on-demand MOOC provides an introduction to ‘the pace of accelerating technological change and…the mindsets needed to create awe-inspiring solutions to humanity’s most pressing issues’

Inductions to Computer Science (CS50x) – Harvard University

‘Harvard University’s introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming for majors and non-majors alike, with or without prior programming experience’.

In his blog  ‘Technology: Creating alternative careers for vets’ James Andrews highlights CS50x as an example of a course allowing veterinary professionals to make a first step in moving to a career in technology.