Design Council Spark — a new £300,000 ‘innovation fund and accelerator’ to discover and support innovative UK talent — was launched towards the end of last month.

The Design Council said that this initiative “seeks to energise UK product design and to develop revolutionary products that solve problems which people face in their everyday lives, building on the UK’s rich heritage as a nation of innovators and inventors.”

Emily Tulloh, a 21-year-old final-year product-design student at Brunel University, was chosen to help launch the innovation fund at London’s Science Museum after entering the Ones To Watch competition.

She said: “Good design can change people’s lives for the better, but great ideas are often ‘left on the shelf’ because designers — especially young ones — lack the business skills and financial backing to get them to market. Design Council Spark is a massive step towards plugging that gap.”

The fund is backed by leading British designers, including wind-up radio inventor Trevor Baylis (pictured). The final date for applications is 31 January. For more details, visit the Web site (www.designcouncil.org.uk/spark).