Have you recently submitted a successful application to Innovate UK? Congratulations! This blog post provides an overview of the project setup process to prepare you for what happens next.
Successful applicants will be instructed to start the project setup process in their notification email. It is accessible via the Innovation Funding Service portal and has eight steps:
Step 1 – Project details
Firstly, you need to provide the proposed start date and location of the project.
Step 2 – Project team
In step two, you need to supply Innovate UK with contact details for your assigned project manager and the assigned finance contact for your organisation. The finance contact is responsible for providing bank details for your organisation and responding to any financial queries from Innovate UK.
Please note that you will need a finance contact for each partner organisation if the project is collaborative.
Step 3 – Documents
In Step 3, you will need to provide the following documents:
- A signed collaboration agreement if you are working on a collaborative project
- A completed spend profile
- An exploitation plan
- Any other documents that may be required specific to the competition
Step 4 – Monitoring officer
Once the first three steps are complete, Innovate UK will assign a monitoring officer to your project. They will be your point of contact throughout the project. The Monitoring Office will help you make sure that the project complies with the terms and conditions of the award and report on your progress to Innovate UK.
Step 5 – Bank details
Step 5 requires you to fill in your bank details if you have not received grant payments from Innovate UK before. You will also need to upload a redacted business bank statement for Innovate UK to verify and approve that you have a suitable clearing bank account.
Step 6 – Finance checks
Next, Innovate UK will review your financial information. They may have some queries in areas such as matched funding, subcontracting, and labour costs.
Step 7 – Spend profile
Once Innovate UK have approved your project finances, you can change your project spend profile. This should detail your costs across the duration of the project.
Step 8 – Grant offer letter
And finally, project setup is complete! You will receive a grant offer letter from Innovate UK that you need to sign and return, giving you the green light to start your project.
More Information
You can find more information on the project setup process here. If you have just been successful in securing an Innovate UK grant and are looking for project management support, we’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch to arrange a free consultation.
