Julian Todd
By email: FOI archive email account [[email address]]; on behalf of; Julian Todd [request-
[email address]]
7 July 2008
Dear Mr Todd
Freedom of Information request – RFI20080627
Thank you for your email of 10 June 2008 requesting information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (the “Act”). The reference number for your request is RFI20080627. You requested:
“(1) a list of all the companies who have attended a regional Innovations Labs event since 2005
(2) a list of those companies who received a commission from the BBC at the end of the event
(3) details of the time, budget, nature, and success of the commissioned projects.
There have been approximately 4 regional events per year usually involving 10 teams at a time. Only a
small fraction of the information requested is available at: http://open.bbc.co.uk/labs/”
In answer to your request:
(1) a list of all the companies who have attended a regional Innovations Labs event since 2005
Please find attached a list of companies as requested.
(2) a list of those companies who received a commission from the BBC at the end of the event
(3) details of the time, budget, nature, and success of the commissioned projects.
Please note that your request falls outside the scope of the Act because the BBC and the other public
service broadcasters are covered by the Act only in respect of information held for purposes “other
than those of journalism, art or literature” (see Schedule I, Part VI of the Act). We are not therefore
obliged to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information that
supports and is closely associated with these creative activities. Information which is not subject to
disclosure under the Act because of Schedule I might otherwise be exempt from disclosure because
of the application of other provisions of the Act.
General information on the Innovation Labs is available on our website. Information on how the
Innovation Labs work, what the BBC was looking for and the overall budgets is available in a video
that can be found at: http://open.bbc.co.uk/labs/blog/2007/11/watch_the_launch_day_presentat_1.php
Information on the scope and depth of the projects we were looking for can be found in a video at:
http://open.bbc.co.uk/labs/2008_the_brief.php
We can also confirm that this year, we will not be holding more Innovation Labs whilst we consider
alternative formats and explore the outcomes of Innovation Labs over the past few years. Full
research into the Innovation Labs is currently being carried out and, when complete, will be published
at http://open.bbc.co.uk/labs. The Innovation Labs’ Senior Research Producer, Matthew Cashmore, is
happy to be contacted direct if anyone is interested in taking part in the research. His email address is:
[email address]
For more information about how the Act applies to the BBC please see www.bbc.co.uk/foi. Please
note that this guidance is not intended to be a comprehensive legal interpretation of how the Act
applies to the BBC.
If you are not satisfied with our response to Point 1 you have the right to an internal review by a BBC
senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at the address above, explaining what you would
like us to review and including your reference number.
If you are not satisfied with the internal review,
you can appeal to the Information Commissioner.
The BBC does not offer an internal review when the information requested is not covered by the Act
(points 2 and 3). If you disagree with our decision you can appeal to the Information Commissioner.
Contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF telephone 01625 545 700. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Yours sincerely
L. Stiller
Legal and Business Affairs Manager
BBC Future Media & Technology
