Pump priming grants available for UK Horizon Europe applicants
UK researchers can apply for grants of up to £5000 from the ‘Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners’ funding call. This competition is funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and delivered by organisations including the British Academy and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The purpose of this call is to support the development of collaborative activity between UK and EU/associated countries’ entities. It focuses specifically on Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe (Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness).
Applicants can use this funding for various activities, including feasibility studies, application advice and training, and partnership building. Significantly, this extends to support services such as proposal writing.
Eligibility
- Proposals are welcome in all disciplines.
- All projects must be led by a named Principal Investigator, who will be responsible for directing and managing the grant. They should be a researcher of at least postdoctoral status from an eligible UK-based organisation. In addition, their position should last at least the duration of this grant.
- The competition welcomes proposals from UK research institutes and universities. It encourages proposals that involve working with any other type of organisations eligible for Horizon Europe funding, such as SMEs, hospitals, and commercial partners.
- Applicants must identify a call in Pillar 2 that they intend to apply to as a result of this pump priming funding.
- This funding can only apply to calls that open between 1st September 2021 and 7th September 2022.
The full eligibility criteria are available in the Scheme Notes.
How to apply
All applicants must register in the British Academy’s online Flexi-Grant system. From there, they will need to complete a short application form that provides details of their planned project.
The deadline for the first wave of assessment is 13th October 2021. Further assessments will take place every two weeks until all funding has been allocated. For more information and to apply, please visit the British Academy website.
Source: British Academy
Biomedical Catalyst 2021 Round 2: £12 million available for feasibility and primer awards
Biomedical Catalyst 2021 Round 2 will open for applications on 18th October 2021. UK-registered companies will be able to apply for a share of £12 million to develop innovative healthcare products, technologies and processes.
Funding is available for feasibility and primer awards:
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Feasibility Award
The feasibility award is for organisations that i) have developed an innovative concept or carried out experimental proof of concept but ii) have not yet validated the technology. This funding will allow them to explore and evaluate the technology’s commercial potential.
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Primer Award
The primer award will enable organisations to conduct a technical evaluation of an idea through to proof of concept in a model system.
Scope
All projects must centre around the development of a product or process that is an innovative solution to a health and care challenge. For example, they may focus on:
- disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
- earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
- tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. You can find the full scope for this competition here.
Eligibility
Firstly, your project must have total eligible costs between £50,000 and £1 million. It should start from 1st April 2022, end by 31st March 2024, and last between 3 and 24 months. To lead a project or work alone, your organisation must fulfil the following criteria:
- Be a UK registered SME
- Carry out its project work in the UK
- Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
You can collaborate with the following types of organisation: businesses of any size, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations, or research technology organisations.
More Information
Biomedical Catalyst 2021 Round 2 is open until 1st December 2021. For more information, visit the competition page or attend the online briefing event on 22nd October. If you’re looking for bid writing support, contact us to arrange a free consultation.
Funding available to develop the Digital Security by Design software ecosystem
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of £8 million to help develop the Digital Security by Design (DSbD) ecosystem. This competition is run by the Digital Security by Design Challenge in collaboration with Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The competition aims to fund a range of projects that can enrich and expand the DSbD software ecosystem prior to the availability of commercial hardware. According to the brief, all projects will “leverage the DSbD Technology Hardware Prototype (also known as Morello Board) to work on a focused area within a selected and specified software stack or Operating System or developer toolchain used by a digital system.”
They must focus on one of the following:
- Enriching the evolving Morello Stacks
- Expanding overall support and make available additional DSbD enabled software stacks, toolchains and components
Eligibility
All projects must:
- Request a total grant of between £200k and £1.4m
- Start on or after 1st April 2022
- End before 31st December 2024
- Last between 12 and 30 months
- Carry out all of its project work in the UK
- Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
In addition, the lead organisation must be a UK registered business or research organisation. They can collaborate with other businesses or research organisations.
Please note that if a research organisation is the lead, any partners who are non-research organisations cannot receive funding directly from the grant. As well as this, applications led by research organisations must include letters of support from all collaborative partners.
For more information, visit the competition page. An online briefing event will take place on 5th October which you can register to attend here. If you are looking for bid writing support, please contact us to arrange a free consultation.
Proofreading tips for your next grant application
When you’re applying for grant funding, you have just one chance to make a good first impression. Therefore, it is essential that you set time aside after drafting your proposal to proofread your answers. This is when you will refine your writing – for example, by correcting spelling and punctuation errors, identifying unclear passages of text, and improving sentence structure. Here are our top proofreading tips to ensure your application is clear and error-free:
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Take a break
Give yourself time away from the application before you start the proofreading process. This will allow you to approach it refreshed, increasing the likelihood that you will pick up on any mistakes.
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Check your writing passes the ‘so what?’ test
Break the proposal down into individual sentences and ask, “so what?” This will help you to check that every sentence is clear, relevant and adds value to your proposal, therefore ensuring you use the word count to its full potential.
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Use proofreading tricks
For example, some people choose to read the text aloud, whereas others read their work backwards (from the last sentence to the first). Ultimately, there are many ways to proofread a proposal, and it’s a case of finding what works best for you.
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Ask a colleague to read through the application
Ideally, this should be somebody who has had limited involvement in writing the proposal, as their distance will allow for a fresh perspective. Their role will be to check that the argument makes sense and spot any remaining mistakes.
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Consider hiring a professional
If you’re too close to the proposal, short on time or simply not confident writing in English, a professional proofreader will be able to help. RedKnight can proofread grant applications for many innovation funding streams, including Eureka Eurostars, Horizon Europe and Innovate UK. Please click here if you'd like more information on our proofreading service or contact us to arrange a free consultation.
Did you find the proofreading tips listed in this blog helpful? If you have a tip of your own, share it with us in the comments section below.
Eureka Globalstars call for collaborative innovation projects with Taiwan
A new Eureka Globalstars call is open for applications. UK-registered organisations can apply for a share of £850,000 to develop collaborative innovation projects with organisations from Taiwan. Austria, Canada and the Netherlands are also participating in this call.
Scope
This competition aims to increase collaboration between UK and Taiwanese businesses and encourage innovation and deployment of novel digital technologies for manufacturing. Projects must have high market potential and develop either an innovative product, technology-based application or technology-based service.
Innovate UK will fund a portfolio of projects that focus on one or more of the following themes:
- smart manufacturing
- sensing
- chemicals
- industrial Internet of Things (IoT)
- artificial intelligence (AI)
- virtual and augmented reality
- robotics and automation
- additive manufacturing
- machine learning
- big data
- wider digital technologies, including block chain and enterprise architecture
- industrial digital technology capability and capacity in both the UK and Taiwan
- enabling continued growth in key Taiwanese manufacturing sectors, including electronics, energy, and smart machinery
- key sectors including pharmaceuticals, energy offshore wind, smart machinery, food and drink
Eligibility
UK registered organisations can apply for up to £300,000 for projects that last from 3-24 months. In addition, all projects must be collaborative. Specifically, they should involve at least two independent organisations (one company from Taiwan and one company from one of the participating Eureka countries/regions).
More Information
This Eureka Globalstars call is open until 15th December 2021. You can find more information through Innovate UK (or Eureka if you are not a UK applicant). Alternatively, please reach out to RedKnight if you would like to discuss bid writing support.
You may also be interested in Eureka Eurostars – the next deadline is 4th November.
New funding opportunities through the Farming Innovation Programme
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will launch the first of three funds from its Farming Innovation Programme this October. Through the new Industry-led R&D Partnerships fund, they will support collaborative research and development projects that address key challenges facing the agricultural and horticultural sectors. In turn, this will enable them to become more productive and environmentally sustainable.
Defra will deliver the Industry-led R&D Partnerships fund in collaboration with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It will build on the success of UKRI’s £90m Transforming Food Production Challenge, as well as the Farming Innovation Pathways competition they ran together earlier this year.
What funding is available?
Funding is available for projects of up to 12 months with costs between £28k and £56k. Aimed at those who haven’t previously received Innovate UK funding, this strand will help farmers and growers to develop their early-stage ideas further and build a collaborative team.
These projects can last up to two years and should have total costs of between £200k and £500k. Successful applicants will set out to test the feasibility of their early-stage solutions. Then, they will use their results to inform decisions on subsequent larger scale R&D projects.
In this strand, projects should last up to three years and have total project costs of between £1m and £3m. The aim is to carry out R&D for innovative solutions with the potential to significantly improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of the sector.
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Large R&D Partnership Projects
A further strand will launch in early 2022. This funding is for larger-scale R&D and demonstration of innovative solutions. It will fund projects that last up to four years and have total costs of between £3m and £5m. Once again, projects must have the potential to significantly improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of the sector.
More Information
The first Farming Innovation Programme competitions will open to applicants on 20th October 2021. You can find more information here, and follow the latest updates on our blog and social media channels (LinkedIn and Twitter).
What's new in Eureka Eurostars 3?
Eureka Eurostars 3: call 1 is open for applications. Through this competition, UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of £2.5 million to fund collaborative R&D projects with organisations from participating Eureka Eurostars member countries.
What's new?
- There are fewer eligibility criteria than there were in the previous programme. Now, applicants must meet seven criteria:
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- The project lead is an innovative SME from a Eurostars country.
- Your consortium includes at least two independent entities.
- Your consortium includes entities from at least two Eurostars countries
- The budget of the SME(s) from a Eurostars country, excluding subcontracting, is 50% or more of the total project cost.
- No single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.
- The project duration is 36 months or less.
- The project has an exclusively civilian purpose.
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- The new application consists of fourteen questions, two of which did not appear in the old application. There are five sections: Project Details, Application, Your Organisation, Declarations, Work Packages.
- Some good news for UK applicants - the new application uses the same format as Innovate UK's online applications!
- You can no longer edit an application after you have submitted it.
- The SME Declaration and Commitment and Signature forms must be signed and uploaded prior to submission.
- Projects should fall between TRLs 4 and 6/7.
How can RedKnight help?
RedKnight has an excellent track record with supporting applications to Eureka Eurostars. For example, we recently won €674,160 on behalf of the FrOLik consortia, which you can read more about here.
Eureka Eurostars 3: call 1 is open from 2nd September until 4th November. If you are looking for bid writing support and would like to arrange a free consultation, get in touch today.
Healthy Ageing Challenge makes £14.4m available for service-led innovations
Through the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge, businesses can apply for a share of £14.4 million to develop service-led innovations to support healthy ageing. £2.4 million from the competition’s budget has been set aside for co-funding projects with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The competition aims to address the under-provision of products and services which support people as they age, therefore helping them to remain active, independent and socially connected. It will support business-led, near-to-market innovations and enforce good people-centred design principles.
Scope
All projects must:
- deliver a clear game-changing service-led innovation, that has a significant impact on ageing positively in the UK
- help people as they age, allowing them to remain active, productive, independent and socially connected for as long as possible
- narrow the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest
- conduct industrial research to develop new and applied knowledge leading to a solution at high technology and market readiness
In addition, projects will need to pass a ‘design stage gate review’ at the six-month point to continue to receive Healthy Ageing Challenge funding. For more information on what this entails, as well as specific themes that projects should focus on, click here.
Eligibility
Eligible projects will meet the following criteria:
- have total eligible costs between £500,000 and £2million
- start by 1 May 2022 and end by 30 April 2024
- last between 6 months and 24 months
- carry out all its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
To lead a project or work alone, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. However, the lead organisation can collaborate with any of the following UK registered organisations: businesses of any size, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations and research and technology organisations.
More Information
This competition will open from 20th September until 17th November. For more information, please see the competition page and register to attend the briefing event. If you are looking for bid writing support and would like to arrange a free consultation with a member of our team, get in touch today.
£2.5 million available for UK SMEs through Eureka Eurostars
A new round of Eureka Eurostars funding is open for applications! Through this competition, UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of £2.5 million for collaborative research and development projects. They must develop an innovative product, technology-based application or technology-based service with high market potential.
Scope
All proposals must demonstrate:
- a clear game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
- a strong and deliverable business plan that addresses market potential and needs
- sound, practical financial plans and timelines
- good value for money
- 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
- clear, considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy and/or national productivity
- the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
- a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
- a clear route to market within two years of project completion or the commencement of clinical trials if applicable
Eligibility
UK registered SMEs can apply for a total grant of up to €360,000 or 60% of the total eligible project costs (whichever is the least).
To apply, you must fulfil the following seven eligibility criteria:
- The project lead is an innovative SME from a Eurostars country.
- Your consortium includes at least two independent entities.
- Your consortium includes entities from at least two Eurostars countries
- The budget of the SME(s) from a Eurostars country, excluding subcontracting, is 50% or more of the total project cost.
- No single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.
- The project duration is less than 36 months.
- The project has an exclusively civilian purpose.
How can RedKnight help?
RedKnight has an excellent track record with supporting applications to Eureka Eurostars. For example, we recently won €674,160 on behalf of the FrOLik consortia - read more about this here.
This competition is open from 2nd September until 4th November. For more information and to apply, please visit the competition page. Additionally, if you are looking for bid writing support and would like to arrange a free consultation, get in touch today.
Ofgem launches £450m Strategic Innovation Fund
The Strategic Innovation Fund will invest £450 million in energy network innovation from 2021 to 2026. It is a new funding mechanism for the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) and will be delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
Funding is available for projects that will benefit consumers and help the UK transition to net zero. The competition consists of the following four Innovation Challenge areas:
- Whole system integration
- Data and digitalisation
- Heat
- Zero emission transport
This is the Discovery phase, which is the first of three planned phases for this competition: 1) Discovery, 2) Alpha, 3) Beta. In the Discovery Phase, projects must last two months and have total eligible costs up to £150,000. Successful applicants will be invited to apply for the Alpha phase.
Eligibility
To lead a project, you must:
- be a licenced gas distribution network, transmission network operator, or electricity system operator
- partner with at least one other energy network licensee holding a different category of network licence, for example a gas transporter, electricity system operator, electricity transmission, electricity distribution or other energy network licenced company
- collaborate with researchers or private sector organisations with technical capabilities in data and digital technologies
- work with relevant data owners and processors
- work with at least one other organisation as your subcontractor
Subcontractors can include a variety of third party innovators such as start-ups, SMEs, suppliers, academics, independent researchers, disruptors, and other energy network companies.
More Information
The Strategic Innovation Fund will be supported by two briefing events. Firstly, a launch event will take place on 7th September for organisations that want to participate in the programme. Secondly, there will be a briefing for licensed gas distribution networks, transmission network operators, and electricity system operators on 8th September. In other words, this event is for organisations that are eligible to lead applications.
This competition is open until 17th November 2021. For more information and to apply, please visit the Innovation Funding Service. Alternatively, contact RedKnight today if you would like to discuss a potential application.