Voted for by the viewers, and sponsored by the mobile phone giant, budding entrepreneurs will compete for a £100,000 investment in launching their idea or venture in what is being billed as Sky's answer to BBC Two's Dragon's Den and US show Simon Cowell's American Inventor.
Contestants can download an application form at skyone.co.uk/thebigidea and regional heats will be held in Manchester and London in September. The show will air later in the autumn on Sky One with additional programming on Sky Three.
Richard Woolfe, director of programmes for Sky One, Two and Three, said: "From John Logie Baird to Trevor Bayliss, Alexander Graham Bell to James Dyson, we are a nation of brilliant inventors and I'm delighted that Sky One and Vodafone are teaming up for The Big Idea.
"It's the biggest-ever UK search for inventions or business ideas and anyone with a flash of genius can participate."
The programme is a departure for Vodafone as it worked with Sky to create the show, which is being produced by Ricochet. The independent producer, owned by Shed, is behind the likes of 'Supernanny'.
Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone, added: "This is a unique partnership between Vodafone and Sky One, and our first venture into a such an integrated TV package.
"'The Big Idea' will showcase the best and brightest of Britain's business talent and the investment will help people build their big ideas into first-rate enterprises."
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