Deadline: 3-Jun-25
Do you have a great innovative idea or project, but need financial support to help commercialise it? If so, the Business Innovation Grant (BIG) could be for you!
Funding Information
- BIG helps support sole traders, micro-businesses and SMEs in Northern Ireland to develop and bring their innovation activities to market with a grant of up to £20,000.
Eligible Activities
- Funding should be used for activities such as:
- In market research (problem solving or opportunity validation)
- In market research (product, service or process idea validation)
- ISO 56000 series Innovation Management Audit, including report production
- Product or service market validation and testing
- Minimal viable product (MVP) development with industry, including market testing
- Process design and validation
- Market entry planning (including analysis of costs for full product or service development and distribution or implementation)
- Design of market entry strategy
- Identification and establishing of manufacturing and supply chains outside Northern Ireland
- New market development visits outside Northern Ireland
- Attendance at trade fairs and exhibitions outside Northern Ireland
- Product launches and demonstrations
- Consultancy or sub-contracting to support further product development
Ineligible Costs
- The following costs are not eligible:
- Related party consultancy costs (including, but not limited to, consultancy provided by family members and current/former employees)
- Project costs incurred prior to the issue date of a BIG grant offer of support
- Capital purchases e.g., machinery, IT equipment, raw materials (not being used for testing by subcontractor), buying an event stand and all other tangible items.
- Printing costs e.g. signs, banners, brochures, pens, T-shirts and other marketing collateral
- Items already part of a business’s outgoings or overheads e.g. rent, standard accountancy services
- Recruitment costs
- Online marketing costs where expenditure is incurred directly with the online platform e.g., Facebook, Google and LinkedIn.
- Innovation Voucher Programme approved suppliers –Innovation Vouchers Knowledge Providers | Invest Northern Ireland (investni.com)
- Standard mobile apps for the purposes of promoting the business, and sales and marketing functions
- General sales and marketing activities
- Standard business advice
- Business plans and economic appraisals
- Website development and online optimisation for the purposes of promoting the business
- Internships for students from knowledge institutions
- Software purchases and basic software development
- Aid that would promote or subsidise the cost of exports
- Testing products that are not within the ownership of your business.
- Internal staff costs and cost of own time
- Patent application and filing costs
- Recurring/subscription costs (only one-off costs are eligible)
Eligibility Criteria
- The business must currently be based in NI.
- Proprietors, Partners, or Directors must be based in NI.
- The business must be an SME (fewer than 250 employees and with turnover less than or equal to €50m or balance sheet total less than or equal to €43m. Balance sheet total is the value of fixed plus current assets.)
- The business must have a HMRC Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), sometimes called a ‘tax reference’ number.
- The business must be able to clearly demonstrate how the project or idea aligns with the Innovate NI definition of innovation which is “the development and implementation of a new or improved product, service, model or process which is novel (significantly different) and has/will be introduced to the market (product/service) or implemented within the business (process, model) to create value”.
- The business must not have received an offer or payment of grant support from Invest NI within the last five years (this does not include COVID-19 emergency funds, Digital Selling Capability Grant, Economic Recovery Innovation Grant (ERIG), Innovation Vouchers or Access to Finance funding e.g. Techstart NI Proof of Concept grants).
- The business must be able to demonstrate that it is viable and will remain so for the duration of the period of Invest NI support, with evidence that the business has sufficient resources to meet any funding gaps.
- The proposed business activity must be a strategic fit with the Invest NI 2024-27 Business Strategy and be aligned to the Department for the Economy Minister’s new Economic Vision.
- The Business must accept the completion of Invest NI Know Your Customer Due Diligence checks on the business, including a credit check.
Ineligibility Criteria
- The following are not eligible to apply:
- Businesses already in receipt of, or intending to gain, other government support for the proposed innovation activities in the Business Innovation Grant application.
- Businesses that have an outstanding liability to Invest NI brought about through grant clawback proceedings. If a satisfactory repayment plan is in place, the business may submit an application for consideration
- Registered charities and organisations whose activities are by their nature charitable;
- Businesses, or where any member of Senior Management within the business, subject to a current bankruptcy order, Individual Voluntary Arrangement, Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), County Court Judgement (CCJ), or Company Director Disqualification.
- Applications which include or relate to activities that Invest NI considers ineligible or involving an unacceptable reputational risk, such as gambling, tobacco products and drug-based products which are not authorised as medicines, adult entertainment. Invest NI reserves the right at its absolute discretion to refuse to support businesses that bring Invest NI, Department of Economy or the Minister for the Economy into disrepute.
- Invest NI clients
- Businesses owned by Invest NI staff members
- Previous recipients of a Business Innovation Grant Letter of Offer
- Health Care Providers delivering core services on behalf of the NHS/Health Trusts
- Education – Schools/Higher Education/Further Education
- Businesses that are part funded by Government
- Government Organisations/bodies and Government funded bodies
- Government part owned/supported businesses.
For more information, visit Innovate NI.
