New funds support research in improving on the energy requirements of electronics

Aug 31, 2012 07:50 GMT  ·  By

UK's Technology Strategy Board has recently announced that it has plans to invest ₤1.25 million(roughly €1.57 million / $1.97 million) in research aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the computers, mobile devices and chips we use on a daily basis.

This board basically deals with encouraging economic growth by supporting innovations in various business fields.

Interestingly enough, it seems that their decision stems from the recognition of the fact that the ever expanding electronics and computing systems industry is quite likely to negatively impact on the environment and significantly contribute to climate change in the not-too-distant future, in case efforts are not made to help control its energy requirements.

Their official website reads “By devising more energy efficient computing devices and software, we can reduce the global energy burden of such systems and increase customer satisfaction by extending battery life, reducing device size and other measures.”

In order to access these funds, companies and researchers already interested in pushing for more efficient electronics need to enter a competition that will officially open on the 8th of October, and close on the 5th of December 2012.

Apparently, all applications must be filed by consortia comprising at least two partners, of which one needs to be a business that will act as head of the partnership, explains Business Green.

Each of the projects submitted and chosen to enter this program will receive a grant of ₤100,000 (approximately €126,000 / $158,000), and need to be thought up in such a way that it expands over a period of time of 6-18 months.

“For many years, electronic and computing systems and the software which runs on them have been designed with a view to ever-improved performance. However, there is now greater focus on improving energy efficiency of the system as a whole,” further commented the Technology Strategy Board on this new series of investments.

Hopefully, the money made available by this new research program will be well spent, and electronics whose energy efficiency has been significantly improved will soon come our way, since such developments will yield both environmental and financial benefits.