Resilience and Innovation Grant to support Enterprises in UK

Deadline: 15-Sep-23

Applications are now open for the Resilience and Innovation Grant to support enterprises based in the SEMLEP region that have been affected by cost of living challenges and are looking at ways to recover and strengthen their business performance- including investing in their business, enabling innovation and enhancing sustainability, in support for transition towards a net zero economy.

The Resilience and Innovation Grant is funded by the Growing Places Fund (GPF) and is being delivered by SEMLEP’s Growth Hub.

Innovation

• This grant funding should help the funded enterprise to become more innovative. This could include product, service or process innovation within the business, to include one or more of the following:
  • Introducing a new product to the business or the market.
  • Introducing a new service to the business or the market.
  • Introducing a new process to the business.
• The innovation support can include the introduction of ‘new to the market’ products in any of its markets.
• A product is new to the market if there is no other product available on a market that offers the same functionality, or the design or technology that the new product uses is fundamentally different from the design or technology of already existing products.
• Products can be tangible or intangible (including services).
• Alternatively, the grant can support the development of a product or service if it is new to the business; if the enterprise did not produce a product with the same functionality, or the production technology is fundamentally different from the technology of already produced products.

Sustainability and Decarbonisation

• This grant funding should aid enterprises in moving towards greener, more sustainable practices.
• This might be contributing towards the business reducing costs and greenhouse gases and working towards net-zero emissions.

Recovery, Growth and Jobs

• This grant scheme is also designed to aid recovery and growth. As such, one of the outputs of this scheme is to enable enterprises to create jobs from their Resilience and Innovation project.
• In these cases, as a guide they would expect a new job to be created per £20,000 grant consistent with a sustainable business case.

Funding Information

• The Resilience and Innovation Grant programme has a total allocation of £1.9M and there are grants of up to £50,000 available. It is anticipated that £750,000.00 will be allocated in the first round. The grants can only be used on capital expenditure.
• Maximum grant intervention through the programme is up to 50% of eligible costs of projects designed to aid recovery, increase innovation and enhance sustainability, in support for transition towards a net zero economy.
• Grants can be from a minimum of £5,000 up to a maximum of £50,000. To be awarded the maximum of £50,000, total project costs of at least £100,000 must be evidenced and, in the view of the Grant Panel, be proportionate to the size of the business and the impact of the project.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Businesses
  • To be eligible for grant funding, applicants must meet the aims of the Resilience and Innovation Grant and the following essential criteria:
    • Be an SME (your company (or group) must employ less than 250 people and your turnover is less than €50m or annual balance sheet less than €43m).
    • Be a trading enterprise or engaged in business activity (e.g. actively preparing to open/reopen), (and provide financial history, ideally the most recent filed accounts).
    • Charities and other NFP organisations are also eligible provided they can meet the scheme obligations. Fully constituted businesses in liquidation, dissolved, struck off or subject to a striking-off notice are not eligible.
    • Be registered in the UK and have a base in the South East Midlands area.
    • Must not be an “undertaking in difficulty”.

Ineligible

• They cannot help with all business costs and here are some examples that cannot be included:
  • General business set up costs or core running or staff costs or working capital e.g. to buy stock, pay wages or salaries, reduce debt or support utility bills; or expenditure to comply with statutory regulations.
  • Items not directly needed to deliver the proposed projects nor non-business expenditure.
  • Costs on the project incurred before a grant offer is made or that cannot be evidenced within the advertised grant scheme end-date.
  • The direct like-for-like replacement of items for an existing purpose e.g. to replace broken, worn out or outdated equipment (i.e. not driven by energy efficiency / carbon reduction considerations), or the routine replacement of items and consumables including laptops and software licences.
  • IT equipment including (but not limited to) laptops, computers, monitors, peripherals, servers, phones, tablets, screens, scanners, printers, photocopiers, network devices and physical storage (unless they are integral to the success of the project and not standalone items).
  • The purchase of land and/or buildings or improvements to domestic or private dwellings.
  • VAT, even where it is a non-recoverable cost.
  • Repeat applications including from linked companies, nor more than one application from a Group of linked businesses.

For more information, visit SEMLEP’s Growth Hub.