Government competitions are an old idea to encourage new thinking and new technology. Many of the great achievements of Victorian engineering began with the offer of a cash prize for a winning design.

The UK government’s small modular reactor competition is a modern example. It is far more than the usual process of inviting bids for a public sector contract. There are interim prizes of research funding and other support en route to the final prize of building a nuclear power station.

The winner of a government competition was announced in Northern Ireland this week: BH Estates, a small company in Co Down, will receive £4 million over three years to develop a mobile machine that removes excess phosphorous from slurry.

Alliance agriculture minister Andrew Muir described it as a “significant milestone” in managing farm waste.

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This competition is one of several under the Lough Neagh Action Plan, unveiled by Muir in July. It is also part of a larger programme of government competitions to solve problems for the public sector, run by Stormont’s Department for the Economy since 2009.

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