Deadline: 29-Jul-21
Applications are now invited for VocTech Challenge Grant Fund. This Challenge is focused on adults impacted by the digital divide and furthest away from learning so they can gain the confidence they need to get skills for work.
This targeted grant call is looking for projects that use technology in ways that support learner confidence. There are a number of current and emerging technologies that could be developed or deployed to improve accessibility, create a supportive learning environment, offer increased personalisation, and motivation to start or keep on learning.
This fund will have 2 parts
Part A – The Design Thinking Element – ‘Define Stage Gateway’ – £10k
- This challenge fund has a funded ‘Define Stage’ at the point where the conditional offer is made.
- This will be a ‘stage gateway’ to ensure that the idea has:
- Clear user design and learning design where appropriate, focused on their target users.
- A technical approach that will deliver the aims of the project.
- £10k per project is available towards the costs of investing time in the design thinking element, plus a tailored enrichment package. This will include access to expert support to guide you through the process. This funding is in addition to the full project costs that you apply for.
Part B – Project Delivery
- They will offer a mixture of VocTech Activate and VocTech Impact type grants to support the funding of projects that ultimately build the confidence and ability of people most impacted by the digital divide to be more active and independent learners.
- Their new Activate grants are for projects that are beyond their initial early concept stage, still require significant development to be ready to launch to the market but are at a stage where they can quickly begin user testing to improve their prototype. Their Impact projects are for projects that have a well-developed idea, can deliver to a large number of learners during the project period and have clear routes to market after the funding ends.
- When applying you will have to state which type of project you are applying for. They reserve the right to offer a different level of funding. It is possible that as a result of assessment, Ufi might also make recommendations on the most suitable funding type for a project.
- These projects are likely to require some tech development as well as market testing with their target audience of learners. Part of the project will be the development of the roll-out, scaling and sustainability planning for the idea:
- Between £15-£50k, requirement for some match funding from those organisations with significant resources.
- Minimum of 50 users to be involved in user design and testing, and an ambition for thousands of learners benefitting within 3 years of Ufi funding closing.
- 4 – 12 months (including the Define Stage).
What kind of ideas are they looking for?
- This targeted grant call is looking for projects that use technology in ways that support learner confidence. There are a number of current and emerging technologies that could be developed or deployed to improve accessibility, create a supportive learning environment, offer increased personalisation and motivation to start or keep on learning.
- They are open to ideas that use digital tools and approaches in new ways to directly improve the confidence and motivation of learners to engage with vocational learning and help people get the skills they need for work.
- Confidence has many aspects in relation to vocational learning. Their Green and White Papers explore the issues that they uncovered during their Discovery. They found that confidence was a barrier to starting to learn, sticking with the learning, and successfully completing learning and moving into work or on to better paid work.
Eligibility Criteria
They think this call will be best suited to:
- Organisations with a shared passion for Ufi’s mission
- Organisations and teams that are open to design thinking
- Organisations who are able to commit to engaging with Ufi’s package of enrichment support and to make the most of the opportunities created by being part of an active project cohort.
- Collaborative groups of organisations and employers (with a lead applicant) where at least one partner has a strong track-record in working with the target community of learners and at least one has a strong tech or learning design background.
- Individual organisations with a strong track-record in working with the community of learners and which have a clear understanding of how to commission the technical solutions they may need.
For more information, visit https://ufi.co.uk/grant-funding/voctech-challenge/