It's interesting that you ask that--and I didn't even plant this. Between Tuesday and today, I discovered that in the United Kingdom--and staff probably already knows this--the Technology Strategy Board has just released a paper on innovation in the U.K., and it's a billion-pound investment, 711 million pounds of which is to go directly to programs for business. For example, the first three in one of their descriptions is exploratory awards--so very early awards to smaller companies--proof of concept, and then collaborative research and development. These are exactly the kinds of things we're talking about as well.
They're also going beyond these 711 million pounds and they're coordinating that with some 120 million pounds from the granting councils and another 111 million pounds from other places. So they're trying to put together a new billion-pound initiative to support innovative businesses in the U.K.