Disaster mitigation and response, traffic management, road maintenance and pollution monitoring are some of the diverse areas set to benefit from £10m investment in research and development by the technology Strategy Board.

The collection of data from a wide range of sources underpins many applications including traffic management, road and rail infrastructure maintenance, pollution monitoring and building management.

Environments that are large-scale, high-density, harsh or unstable make data gathering particularly challenging. Without up-to-date and reliable data, it is difficult to understand or predict the dynamics of the environment.

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The government funded Technology Strategy Board is investing in this area, Chief Executive Iain Gray, said: "The ability to gather information in complex or difficult environments is vital for organisations such as the emergency services, transport authorities and power companies.

"Many UK companies have particular strengths in sensing, instrumentation and imaging technologies, and in telecommunications and intelligent systems. Bringing this expertise together would give the UK the capability to offer complete tracking and monitoring solutions, and to exploit this worldwide demand for such technology."

Applicants must register their intention to apply for funding, and submit an outline of their proposal, by 4 April 2008 and the final closing date for applications is 8 May.

Further information is available at: www.technologyprogramme.org.uk.

(JM)