Innovate UK: How to complete the project setup process
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.
£12 million available for innovative clean maritime projects
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of £12 million for innovative clean maritime projects. This funding is from the Department for Transport. The Clean Maritime Demonstration Round 2 competition has two strands:
1) Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 - Feasibility
Firstly, funding is available for feasibility studies associated with the development and real-world demonstration of one or more of the specific themes listed in the competition scope. The real-world demonstration you are developing should be operational before March 2025.
The lead organisation must be a UK-registered business and work with other UK-registered organisations. In addition, Strand 1 projects must:
- have total costs between £100,000 and £1 million
- end before 31 August 2023
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- carry out the majority of the work in the UK for green corridor projects
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
2) Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 – Collaborative R&D
Secondly, Strand 2 will support agile development and pre-deployment testing of clean maritime technologies. Projects must design, develop and test novel clean maritime technologies focused for on-vessel technologies or shoreside infrastructure.
Again, the lead organisation must be a UK-registered business and collaborate with other UK-registered organisations. Strand 2 projects must also:
- have total costs between £100,000 and £3 million
- end before 31 August 2023
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
More Information
This competition is open from 25th May until 13th July. You can find more information on both strands via the Innovation Funding Service.
RedKnight has a strong track record of securing innovation funding and can help you develop a competitive application! If you would like to explore an application, please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
Beginner’s Guide: How to build an effective consortium in Horizon Europe
International cooperation is at the heart of Horizon Europe; for most calls for proposals, you will need to apply as a team of at least three partner organisations from different Member States or Associated Countries. However, building a winning consortium is no easy task! Here are five tips to keep in mind if you’re just getting started:
1. Start early
It’s important that you give yourself plenty of time to build a consortium. This will allow you to speak with numerous organisations to ensure you get the very best people on board for your project.
Where possible, we recommend starting the consortium-building process before calls are even announced. It is worth familiarising yourself with the Horizon Europe strategic plan, which sets the strategic orientations for research and innovation investments in the programme's first four years. In addition, work programmes set out funding opportunities under Horizon Europe and can help you anticipate upcoming calls. From here, you can start building out a network of relevant organisations.
Tip: Think about the time needed to prepare the bid. The more partners, the longer this will take!
2. Use your network
Your network is the best place to start looking for potential project partners! Firstly, consider whether you have existing collaborators who can help you deliver the project. Not only this, but do your existing collaborators have contacts who can help?
Tip: Previous (successful) collaborations indicate your consortium work well together, therefore mitigating some of the risks associated with the project.
… But don’t be afraid to look beyond it!
While your network is a great place to start, it’s important that you don’t just work with your friends. If they have the necessary skills and experience – great! If not, you should look outside of your network to find organisations that better fit the project.
One way to find new partners is through the built-in Partner Search tool on the European Funding and Tenders Portal. Organisations can search for potential partners for collaborative projects through the partner search page (link this) and through specific topic pages.
Other places to find partners online include Crowdhelix, an Open Innovation network for organisations seeking Horizon Europe funding, and LinkedIn groups. We would also recommend participating in Info Days and brokerage events where possible, as they are a great way to network and form new collaborations.
Tip: Short on time? You can publish your own Partner Search request on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal with details of what you are looking for.
3. Keep the budget in mind
The size of the consortium will be impacted by the size of the grant available. You need to ensure that you have a sufficient budget to fund the number of partners involved in the project. All partners will also need to be aware of the grant amount ceiling so they can construct their work plans in line with the money available.
Tip: If the budget is stretched, you may need to consider scaling back the number of partners involved in the project.
4. Keep your end objectives in mind
Before you approach potential partners, you should have a clear understanding of what it is you want to do. This way, you will know exactly who to approach and can ensure that the consortium brings together the necessary expertise to fulfil the project’s end objectives.
Tip: Consider the evaluation criteria - in what way does each of the partners contribute to the project? Do they each have a valid role, and adequate resources in the project to fulfil that role?
5. Manage expectations from the very start
As the project coordinator, your role is to manage the expectations of all partners. We recommend:
- Discussing roles and responsibilities, in terms of both writing the proposal and delivering the project.
- Ensuring all partners agree on the budget. As the project coordinator, you should have the final say.
- Discussing the likelihood of success. All partners should recognise that EU funding calls are extremely competitive and even excellent teams aren’t guaranteed to succeed.
- Ensuring all partners have access to a project management and delivery handbook.
Tip: Organise a face-to-face meetup if you can! It’s important that all partners get to know each other to ensure the project runs smoothly.
How can RedKnight help?
RedKnight can help you identify potential project partners as part of our retained consultancy package. You can find more information here. Or, if you’ve already formed a consortium and are looking for bid writing support, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us to arrange a free consultation.
Faraday Battery Challenge Round 5 open for applications
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of £25 million for innovation in propulsion battery technologies for electric vehicles. This funding is from the Faraday Battery Challenge.
The aims of the competition are to:
- support business-led research and development of sustainable propulsion batteries
- support technologies with the potential to enter the automotive market within the next 10 years and, where appropriate, allow for early or cooperative entry into other sectors
- move UK battery innovations from technological potential towards commercial capability
- develop and secure material and manufacturing supply chains for battery technologies in the UK
The competition has two strands:
1. Collaborative Research and Development
The CR&D strand will support the research and development of innovative and sustainable battery technologies for the propulsion of electric vehicles in the automotive sector. All projects need to meet the following eligibility criteria. Firstly, they must have total costs between £500,000 and £12 million. They can last up to 24 months and should take place between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2024. Projects must be collaborative, led by a UK registered business, and involve at least one SME.
2. Feasibility Studies
In this strand, projects should focus on exciting early-stage research where a feasibility study could catalyse the route to commercialisation. To be eligible for funding, projects must have total costs between £100,000 and £750,000. They can last up to 12 months and should take place between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023. Projects must be collaborative, led by a UK registered business, and involve at least one SME.
More Information
Faraday Battery Challenge Round 5 is open from 23rd May until 17th August 2022. You can find more information on both strands via the Innovation Funding Service.
RedKnight has a strong track record of securing innovation funding and can help you develop a competitive application! If you would like to explore an application, please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
£20 million available through Energy Catalyst Round 9
Energy Catalyst Round 9 is open for applications! Organisations can apply for a share of £20 million to create new or improved clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the Indo-Pacific regions.
Scope
To be in scope for Energy Catalyst Round 9, your project must:
- Focus on improving energy access in official development assistance (ODA) eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Indo-Pacific regions.
- Have a technology or business model which is affordable, reliable and low carbon.
- Consider the role of gender equality and social inclusion.
Eligibility
This competition is split into three strands:
- Early-stage – Projects must last between 3 and 12 months and have total costs between £50k and £300k.
- Mid-stage – Projects must last between 6 and 24 months and have total costs between £50k and £1.5m.
- Late-stage – Projects must last between 6 and 36 months and have total costs between £50k and £5m.
To be eligible for funding for mid and late stage projects, at least some of the research and development, testing or demonstration activities must be conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Indo-Pacific regions. In addition, all projects must:
- Start by 1st April 2023 and end by 31st March 2026.
- Intend to use the results to help deliver clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or the Indo-Pacific.
- Include a UK-registered administrative lead. If you are an international organisation, you must partner with a UK administrative lead.
- Involve at least one SME from anywhere in the world.
More information
This competition is open from 18th May until 10th August. For more information, visit the competition page or register to attend the online briefing event on 25th May.
RedKnight has a strong track record of securing innovation funding and can help you develop a competitive application! If you would like to explore an application, please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
Key changes to Innovate UK Smart Grants
This blog post provides an overview of the recent changes to Innovate UK’s Smart Grants competition.
What is Innovate UK Smart Grants?
Smart is Innovate UK’s open grant funding programme. It provides funding for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovation that can significantly impact the UK economy. The competition typically runs quarterly, with up to £25 million available per round. The next deadline is 27th July 2022.
What are the changes?
According to Innovate UK, the changes reflect how important it is that the project has economic benefits and potential for successful commercialisation, growth and exports. The key takeaways are as follows:
- There will be an increased focus on ‘game-changing’ innovation, as shown in Question 2.
- Projects will not be funded if the technology is available or used in another sector.
- There is a greater requirement to show how the proposal will lead to a significant return on investment for the UK taxpayer.
- Applicants must explain why they need Smart funding to succeed (over other routes of investment).
- Projects will not be funded if other Innovate UK funding support is available and deemed more appropriate.
- Applicants must demonstrate their capability to deliver the project in the required timeframe.
Innovate UK has updated the application form in line with these points. There are now seven questions to answer, which you can find on the competition page.
What next?
Before starting an application, you should carefully read the competition scope, eligibility criteria, and application questions. You may also find it useful to watch the competition briefing event.
In addition, Innovate UK recently revealed that around 50% of all Smart Grant applications aren’t right for funding! As a result, they have released a five-question checklist for prospective applicants to consider.
How can RedKnight help?
RedKnight can help you prepare a competitive application. Not only will this save you time, with grant applications taking an average of 6-10 weeks to complete in-house, but it will also increase your chances of success! You can view a selection of our case studies here. In addition, we can provide application reviews and support with resubmissions.
If you are looking for support with an Innovate UK Smart Grant application, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocates £585 million to Wales
Wales will receive £585 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) launched earlier this month. Here, we provide a short summary of the new Fund and what it means for Wales.
What is the UKSPF?
The UKSPF is a government-allocated fund set up to help spread opportunity and level up the country. The Fund aims to build pride in place and increase life chances across the UK. To achieve this, it has three investment priorities: communities and place; supporting local business; and people and skills.
The UKSPF will provide £2.6 billion of funding between 2022 and 2025, with this figure reaching £1.5 billion per year by March 2025. This includes £1.58 billion for England, £212 million for Scotland, £585 million for Wales and £127 million for Northern Ireland.
Why is the UKSPF being introduced?
The UKSPF is part of the Levelling Up agenda and replaces money previously allocated to communities through EU Structural Funds. According to the UK Government, it will be less bureaucratic and give more control to locally elected leaders. There will also be no requirement for match funding.
How will the UKSPF be delivered?
In England, Scotland and Wales, local governments will be responsible for developing an investment plan for approval by the UK government, and for delivery of the Fund’s interventions thereafter. However, the UK government will retain oversight of the Fund in Northern Ireland.
Welsh Government reaction
The UK Government say that the scheme fulfils a promise to match previous EU funding. But according to Welsh Government estimates, Wales would have received EU Structural funding worth at least £375 million per year had the UK remained in the EU. Instead, Wales will receive a total of £585 million from the Shared Prosperity Fund over the next three years – around £195 million a year. This has led First Minister Mark Drakeford to accuse the UK Government of ‘levelling down’ Wales through the new Fund.
You can read more about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund here.
SBRI Rail Demonstrations: First of a Kind 2022
Organisations can apply for a share of £7.6 million to deliver 'First of a Kind' rail demonstrations . This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) funded by the Department for Transport. It is part of a larger initiative to accelerate innovation in the UK rail sector and enable technologies to be readily integrated into the railway system.
First of a Kind 2022 has three themes:
1. Low emissions and a greener railway
Projects must address reduced carbon emissions and the impact of the railway on the environment. Up to £60,000 is available per phase 1 project. In phase 2, three successful phase 1 applicants will receive up to £740,000 to develop a prototype and undertake field testing.
2. Rail freight
Projects must focus on one of the specific themes listed on the competition page. A total of £2.4m is available for Theme 2 projects. Contracts will be up to £400,000 for projects lasting no longer than 12 months.
3. Cost efficiency and performance priorities for a reliable railway
Projects must focus on one of the priorities listed on the competition page. A total of £2.5m is available for Theme 3 projects. Contracts will be between £150,000 and £250,000 for projects lasting no longer than six months.
Eligibility
Applicants are welcome from all sectors. The lead applicant must be an organisation of any size, and they can work alone or with other organisations as subcontractors. Projects must involve each of the following:
- An owner of railway assets
- An experienced railway organisation
- A rail organisation that has the potential to become a customer
They must also include a potential integration partner and have a letter of support from a potential railway customer organisation.
More Information
First of a Kind 2022 is open for applications from 20th April until 8th June. For more information, register to attend the competition briefing event taking place in Birmingham on 5th May. The event will also be available to watch online.
RedKnight has a strong track record of securing innovation funding and can help you develop a competitive application! Please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
Innovate UK Smart Grants: April 2022
A new round of Smart Grants is open for applications! Up to £25m is available for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovation that can significantly impact the UK economy.
Innovate UK has changed some of the application questions for this round of Smart Grants. You can read the updated application form here.
Scope
Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy. All ideas must be genuinely new and novel, not just disruptive within their sector. To be in scope, your proposal must demonstrate:
- a game-changing, innovative, and disruptive idea that will lead to new products, processes or services
- an idea that is significantly ahead of others in the field, set for rapid commercialisation
- clear potential to positively impact the UK’s position, productivity and competitiveness within the global economy
- a clear, evidence-based business plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
- why Smart funding is the right potential funding for your project, and the journey you have already been on to reach the point of application
- a team with the necessary skills and expertise to deliver the project successfully and on time, and to achieve rapid commercialisation
- awareness of all the main risks the project will face with realistic management, mitigation and impact minimisation plans for each risk
- sound, practical financial plans and timelines that represent good value for money, including the funding of post-project activities
Eligibility
Your application must include at least one SME; they can be the lead or a collaborative grant claiming partner. The project must start no later than 1st January 2023 and end no later than 31st December 2025. Your project must also follow specific rules based on its duration:
- Projects with durations between 6 and 18 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000. They can be single or collaborative projects.
- Projects with durations between 19 months and 36 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £2 million. In contrast to shorter projects, they must be collaborative.
This competition is open from 25th April until 27th July. For more information, please visit the competition page or attend the online briefing event on 3rd May 2022. If you need help putting together a competitive proposal, please contact us today.
You may also be interested in our Innovate UK application guide – subscribe to RedKnight’s monthly newsletter today to receive a free copy direct to your inbox!
Funding available from the Farming Innovation Programme
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has launched two new competitions under the Farming Innovation Programme. Funding will help England’s farmers and growers to become more productive, environmentally sustainable, and more resilient to the global food security challenges of the future.
1. Farming Innovation Programme - Large R&D Partnership Projects
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of £8m for collaborative projects that address major on-farm or immediate post-farmgate challenges or opportunities. Solutions must significantly improve productivity, sustainability and environmental impact, progression towards net zero emissions, and resilience.
The lead organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. In addition, projects must:
- have total costs between £3m and £5m
- be collaborative, involving at least one SME and one research organisation
- last up to 48 months, starting by 1st February 2023 and ending by 31st January 2027
- carry out all project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in England
- have a minimum of 50% of any grant requested by farmers, growers or foresters allocated to farmers, growers or foresters based in England
Apply before 11am on Wednesday 29th June.
2. Farming Futures R&D Fund: Climate smart farming – EoI
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of £12.5m to develop ambitious new solutions for reducing emissions and adapting to a changing climate. Solutions should significantly improve productivity, sustainability and environmental impact, progression towards net zero emissions, and resilience.
The lead organisation must be a UK-registered business of any size, academic institution or research and technology organisation. Projects must also:
- have total eligible costs between £3 million and £6 million
- be collaborative
- address the specific requirements of the Defra key priorities for reducing emissions and adapting to a changing climate
- last between 24 and 48 months, starting by 1st April 2023 and ending by 31st March 2027
- carry out all project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in England
- have a minimum of 50% of any grant awarded to farmers, growers or foresters allocated to farmers, growers or foresters based in England
Expressions of interest must be submitted before 18th May. Successful applicants at this stage will be invited to apply for funding at stage 2 of the competition.
Planning to apply? RedKnight has a strong track record of securing innovation funding and can help you develop a competitive application! Please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.