A new round of Analysis for Innovators (A4I) is open for applications! UK registered businesses can apply for a share of £3 million to resolve productivity issues by working with the best UK scientists and cutting-edge research facilities.

This is the expression of interest (EoI) stage and so there is no funding available. Moving forward, successful applicants will attend brokerage consultations with A4I partners to find the best approach for solving their problem. They will then work together to propose joint projects in stage 2 which, if successful, will receive grant funding.

Eligibility

In stage two, your project must fulfil the following criteria:

  • have total eligible costs of up to £50,000
  • start by 1 January 2022 and end by 31st March 2022
  • carry out all of its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  • involve at least one of the A4I co-funding partner organisations

A business can only lead on one application in this round of the competition, while previously submitted applications are also ineligible.

Scope

Within your application, you must outline the benefits of solving your problem. For example, this may include improved productivity or competitiveness. Innovate UK will only consider problems that:

  • are related to the measurement or analysis of some quantities or properties of an existing process, product or service
  • are not effectively solvable by simple ‘off the shelf’ methods or techniques

You must outline any methods and attempts that you have previously tried to address the problem. However, your application should not propose a solution.

More Information

Analysis for Innovators is open from 29th July until 18th August. Successful applicants will be notified by 8th September, with online partner brokerage sessions set to take place between 10th – 20th September. More information is available on the competition page.

If you’re looking for funding to develop a new innovative product, process or service, rather than to solve a problem, you may be interested in Innovate UK’s Smart Grants competition.