Up to £25 Million available through Innovate UK Smart Grants Program

Deadline: 16 October 2019

Applications can come from any area of technology (including arts, design, media or creative industries), science or engineering and be applied to any part of the economy for the “Innovate UK Smart Grants”.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £25 million in the best game-changing, innovative or disruptive ideas with a view to commercialisation.

Themes

• They give preference to applications that demonstrate realistic, significant potential for global markets.
• Proposals from innovation-based businesses with significant ambition and potential for growth or scale-up are welcome.
• Where possible, projects should take customer and user needs into account to deliver more desirable and useful solutions.

Categories

They are looking to fund projects, across a variety of technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories. This competition provides funding for innovative research and development (R&D) from:

1. feasibility, including market research
2. industrial research
3. experimental development, up to but not including commercialisation

Funding Information

1. Duration between 6 and 18 months and total eligible project costs between £25,000 and £500,000: can be single or collaborative.
2. Duration between 19 and 36 months and total eligible project costs between £25,000 and £2 million: must be collaborative.

Project Proposal

Applicant’s proposal must demonstrate:

• a clear game-changing, innovative and/or 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;
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines;
• 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 the UK economy and/or productivity in a positive way;
• good value for money, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project applicant must:
    • be a UK based business of any size or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
    • carry out applicants  R&D project activity in the UK
    • intend to commercially exploit the project results from or in the UK
    • be an SME if applicant want to work alone
    • include at least one SME if applicant are a large business or RTO and wish to collaborate with other businesses, research organisations, public sector organisations or charities.
• Project team
  • To collaborate with the lead organisation applicant must:
    • be a UK based business, academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or RTO
    • carry out applicants R&D project activity in the UK
    • intend to commercially exploit the project results from or in the UK
    • be invited to take part by the lead applicant
    • enter applicants costs in the Innovation Funding Service
• State Aid: Any UK business claiming funding must be eligible to receive state aid at the time they confirm applicant will be awarded funding.
• Partners with no funding: Applicants  project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs but they will not count as collaborators.
• Multiple applications: Any one business or RTO can only lead on one application. If more than one application is submitted with the same lead, only the first application will be considered for assessment.
• Research and technology organisations (RTOs)
  • If applicant are an RTO then the following rules apply:
    • To lead applicant must have 2 or more business collaborators (one SME, and one other business of any size).
    • There must be a credible route to market for the output of the project, and since the purpose of RTOs is to speed up the progress of those using their services, this is expected to be through the partners, rather than through the RTO itself.
    • If applicant are a project partner, applicant can participate as either a research organisation, and receive 100% grant, or as a business entity, and be reimbursed a percentage of their eligible costs, depending upon their size and the nature of the work.
    • If participating as a business, applicant must show that the match funding applicant are providing comes from entirely private sector sources, across all projects applicants are involved in. Applicant must also be able to show how applicant will exploit the results of the project to grow the wider sector.

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply online via given website.

For more information, please visit https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/389/overview#summary