Regional Corporate–Startup Pilot Exchange

Scouting, challenge definition, pilot contracting, data access, evaluation and post-pilot procurement can be handled by different teams, causing promising tests to stall before commercial conversion.

Corporates, public bodies or regional innovation programmes pay; startups should not pay simply for access to buyers.

The original 86 score is too high for a broad exchange. Discovery and matching are already widely supplied; the narrower gap is standardising pilot execution and ensuring successful pilots progress into procurement.

Run 10–15 pilots across 3–5 corporate/public buyers over 6 months and measure contract cycle, pilot completion and post-pilot procurement.

A reusable pilot contract/evidence model and buyer-specific conversion history can become useful, but marketplace matching alone has little moat.

Increase the proportion of matched startup/corporate relationships that become completed pilots and paid contracts.

Programme workflow — medium confidence.

- 10–15 pilot programme: £30,000–£60,000 sponsor-funded - Annual buyer/innovation-programme licence: £25,000–£75,000 - Startups: free to participate

Evidence basis: Large public programmes already fund innovation pilots, so value must come from faster execution and conversion rather than startup discovery.

Ask one regional innovation sponsor or 3–5 buyers to fund £30,000–£60,000 for a 6-month programme covering 10–15 pilots. Continue only if median time-to-pilot falls by at least 25%, at least 80% of pilots complete with decision-grade evidence, at least three convert to paid follow-on contracts and the sponsor funds another cohort. Stop if existing accelerator/Innovate UK processes already provide equivalent execution and conversion.

Raise it above 80 if multi-buyer programmes demonstrate materially higher pilot-to-contract conversion. Lower it below 65 if existing innovation programmes add equivalent pilot-operating workflows.