Junior Ministers and have met the six successful suppliers who will
explore innovative ideas and develop new solutions to tackle the
scourge of violence against women and girls.
As part of the Executive's Strategic Framework to End Violence
Against Women and Girls, which was launched in September, two
Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Challenges have been
developed to find new ways to deal with this deep-rooted problem.
With a priority on prevention, the six suppliers will work on
projects that will use data, tech and design innovations to
tackle violence against women and girls and to identify solutions
to make spaces safer for women and girls.
The Junior Ministers met with the suppliers at an information
sharing event in Belfast, held during the 16 Days of Activism
Against Gender-Based Violence, which involved a range of key
stakeholders including the PSNI, Department of Justice, Translink
and local councils.
Junior Minister said: "The Executive
gave a commitment to support technological and innovative
solutions from the private sector to improve the safety of women
and girls.
"The focus of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls
strategy is on prevention and these Challenge projects have that
at their very core.
"Tackling the underlying causes of violence, abuse and harm
towards women and girls and stopping it before it starts, is
vital to solving this problem."
Junior Minister said: "The successful applicants bring a wealth of
local, national and international expertise to develop solutions
to tackle this deep-rooted problem.
"The level of violence, harm and abuse against women and girls is
unacceptable and we look forward to seeing new ways of addressing
the underlying causes and stopping it before it starts.
"Ending violence against women and girls is a priority for the
Executive and these projects reflect that commitment to tackling
this important issue."
Notes to editors:
2. The EVAWG SBRI projects are supported by funding from the
Department for the Economy (£425,000).
3. The six suppliers awarded contracts are:
Think Pig Ltd
Goggleminds Ltd
Inclutech Ltd
Cranmore Consulting Ltd
Orb Connect Ltd
Politus Analytics
4. The SBRI has two phases and will be expected to follow the
standard approach:
- Phase one: Six applicants selected to develop proof of
concepts. A total funding package of £425k has been secured from
the Department for the Economy (DfE) through its SBRI Challenge
Fund for Phase one; and
- Phase two: concepts selected and developed as potential pilot
solutions.
5. The competition process is being managed on behalf of TEO by
the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) and TEO is the contracting
authority in this procurement.
6. At the end of Phase one, which will close at the end of March
25, all, or a subset only of the suppliers in Phase one may be
selected to proceed to later phases, based on agreed objective
selection criteria and budget availability.
