Up to £25million Available for Innovate UK Smart Grants Program

Deadline: 5-Jan-22

Applications are now open for the Innovate UK Smart Grants Program.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £25 million in the best game-changing and commercially viable innovative or disruptive ideas. All proposals must be business focused.

Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy, such as, but not exclusively:

the arts, design and media
creative industries
science or engineering

Your proposal must demonstrate:

a clear game-changing, innovative, disruptive, and ambitious idea leading to new products, processes or services
an idea that is significantly ahead of others in the field, set for rapid commercialisation
a strong and deliverable business plan that addresses (and documents) market potential and needs
a clear, evidence-based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
a team, business arrangement or working structure with the necessary skills and experience to run and complete the project successfully and on time
awareness of all the main risks the project will face (including contractor or equipment failure, recruitment delays, etc) with realistic management, mitigation and impact minimisation plans for each risk
clear, considerable potential to significantly impact either or both, the UK economy and productivity in a positive way
sound, practical financial plans and timelines that represent good value for money, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions

Specific Themes

Your project should:

demonstrate realistic, significant potential for global markets
take customer and user needs into account to deliver more desirable and useful solutions
Proposals from innovation-based businesses with significant ambition and potential for growth or scale up are welcome.

Funding Information

Projects of 6 to18 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000 and can be single or collaborative. Projects of 19 to 36 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £2 million and must be collaborative.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead organisation
- To lead a project your organisation must:
  - be an SME if you want to work alone
  - be a UK registered business of any size or a research and technology organisation (RTO) if collaborative
  - include at least one SME if you are a large business or RTO and wish to collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, academic organisations, public sector organisations or charities
  - claim grant funding
  - carry out all your project work in the UK
  - intend to commercially exploit the results from or in the UK
Project team
- To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
  - business
  - academic institution
  - charity
  - not-for-profit
  - public sector organisation
  - research and technology organisation (RTO)