R-I-B-S ANAGRAM: The U.S. Dept of Ed's Institute of Education Sciences has, for the past several years funded the R&D and commercialization of promising, daring edtech projects through the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program. You can check out some of the success stories here. Now the UK has its own version of the program, borrowing the exact same letters: SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative).
The UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and and the Technology Strategy Board are committing £1.1 million to support tools targeting a broad range of learning goals across primary and secondary education. (Competition brief here.) Applications will be open on May 12. Grants of up to £80K will be made for Phase I of accepted projects; funding for Phase II is to be determined.