Eureka Eurostars: £2.5 million available for collaborative research and development
A new Eureka Eurostars call 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 game-changing or disruptive 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 can be used and shared between the participants and countries
- a clear route to market within two years of project completion
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.
More Information
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 21st January until 24th March. 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.
Innovate UK Smart Grants: January 2022
Innovate UK has launched a new round of Smart Grants! Through this competition, £25 million will be available for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovation. Applications are due between 17th January and 13th April.
Scope
Smart is Innovate UK’s ‘open’ grant funding programme. Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy. This includes the creative industries, science or engineering, and the arts, design and media. Projects can overlap with the grand challenge areas, although Innovate UK is also keen to support projects in other areas.
Proposals 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
- Awareness of all the main risks the project will face 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
- Sound, practical financial plans and timelines that represent good value for money
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 October 2022 and end no later than 30th September 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 £25,000 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.
RedKnight Consultancy has significant experience in supporting applications for Innovate UK Smart Grants. You can view one of our success stories here. 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!
EU Missions receive €673 million investment
Last month, the European Commission adopted an amendment to the Horizon Europe work programme for 2021-2022, increasing its budget to €15.4 billion. This includes €673 million to roll out the following EU Missions:
1) Cancer
This mission aims to improve the lives of more than three million people affected by cancer by 2030. With a total budget of €125 million, it will invest:
- €60 million in projects developing new methods and technologies for cancer screening and early detection
- €54 million to improve understanding of the impact of risk factors and health determinants
- €11 million to develop a set of quality of life and patient preference measures for cancer patients and survivors
2) Adaptation to Climate Change
‘Adaptation to Climate Change’ will help at least 150 European regions and communities to become climate resilient by 2030. Its €122 million budget will support a variety of activities, such as the development of climate change risk assessments and large-scale demonstrators of climate resilience.
3) Restoring Oceans, Seas and Waters
This Mission aims to restore, protect and preserve the health of Europe’s oceans, seas and waters by 2030. It will invest €114 million in projects to protect the EU’s waters, prevent pollution, and create a sustainable, carbon-neutral and circular Blue Economy.
4) Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
The 'Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities' Mission intends to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030. It has a range of calls totalling €119 million to support the transition towards climate neutrality in cities. They are in areas such as urban planning, the innovation potential of public transport, and Positive Clean Energy Districts.
5) Soil Health and Food
The mission’s goal is to establish 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030. With a total budget of €62 million, the Commission will launch calls to validate and develop indicators for soil health and functions, increase understanding of the link between soil health and safe food, and much more.
The first EU Missions calls are open for applications, with more information available in the updated 2021-2022 work programme. The European Commission has also organised Info Days for prospective applicants on 18th and 19th January – see the full programme here.
RedKnight can help you produce a competitive application, significantly increasing your chances of securing funding! Please contact us to discuss an application in more detail.
Grant funding opportunity for UK-Singapore collaborative R&D
From 24th January, UK registered businesses will be able to apply for a share of £3 million to develop collaborative R&D with businesses from Singapore. This funding is from Innovate UK in partnership with Enterprise Singapore.
The competition has an open scope, but applications from the following sectors are of particular interest: advanced manufacturing and materials, agrifood tech, mobility and transport, cybersecurity, and health and life sciences.
Scope
This competition will fund business-led, collaborative research and development projects focused on industrial research. 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
- 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
- considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
- the benefits of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
- a clear definition of where IP can be used and shared between the participants and countries
- a clear route to market within no more than 2 to 3 years of project completion
Eligibility
All projects must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Firstly, the consortium must include at least one business registered in Singapore.
- All projects must last between 24 and 36 months, starting by 1st September 2022 and ending by 31st August 2025.
- UK applicants can apply for a maximum grant of up to £350,000.
- They must also carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.
More Information
This competition is open until 20th April 2022. For more information, please visit the competition page or join the online briefing event on 3rd February.
RedKnight Consultancy has significant experience in developing bids for transnational innovation projects. To find out more about how we can help, please contact us to arrange a free consultation.
APC 20: £25m available to develop low carbon automotive technologies
Through APC 20, the Advanced Propulsion Centre will invest up to £25m in late-stage, collaborative research and development of automotive technology and processes. This will support the UK automotive sector’s transition towards net zero.
Scope
This competition is seeking proposals for collaborative R&D projects that design, develop and manufacture zero emission on-vehicle technologies for on-road or off-road vehicles. All projects must:
- support the growth and security of the UK’s automotive supply chain
- deliver vehicle technologies and associated manufacturing processes which support the transition to net zero
- align with the UK’s strategic aims in this area, such as the Automotive Council’s Roadmaps
There are several technologies in scope for this competition, such as:
- battery cell components or systems
- fuel cell and associated balance of plant
- electric machines and power electronics
- fossil-free fuel internal combustion
- hydrogen storage and management systems
- recycling or recovering materials from any of the above
- digitalisation leveraged during the development, production or in-service phases
Eligibility
Firstly, all projects must have total eligible costs between £5 million and £40 million. They must be a minimum of 50% match funded and last between 18 and 42 months, starting by 1st September 2022. In addition, all project work must take place in the UK.
To lead a project, your organisation must fulfil the following criteria:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- have an active registered business base in the UK
- be a grant recipient
- involve at least one SME if the lead is not one
- include in your consortium a vehicle manufacturer or tier 1 supplier who supplies parts directly to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
- collaborate with others
Innovate UK also suggests that projects should involve a maximum of six partners. The collaborating organisations can be any of the following types of UK registered organisation: businesses of any size, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations, or research and technology organisations.
More Information
APC 20 opens on 12th January and closes on 2nd March. For more information, please visit the competition page or attend the applicant briefing webinar on 12th January.
RedKnight can help you produce a competitive application, significantly increasing your chances of securing funding! Please contact us to discuss an application in more detail.
Funding available to advance the commercialisation of quantum technologies
From 17th January, UK organisations can apply for a share of £6m for projects to advance the commercialisation of quantum technologies in the UK. This funding is from the ISCF Commercialising Quantum Technologies Challenge.
Scope
Firstly, proposals must identify a clear market opportunity and an innovative project which exploits it. The project must meet the following criteria:
- study a commercial opportunity
- quantify performance objectives
- provide a roadmap of future exploitation
- exploit second generation quantum techniques.
Specific Themes
In addition, projects must address one or more specific themes:
- Connectivity: techniques for securing data in storage and in flight.
- Seeing the invisible: imaging, sensors and detectors for the environment, transport, autonomous systems, infrastructure, and healthcare.
- Positioning, navigation and timing: developing resilience and precision for situational awareness and time dissemination.
- Computing: advancing quantum computing for addressing intractable problems through modelling & simulation, machine learning and optimisation.
Eligibility
Projects must have total eligible costs of no higher than £500,000. They should start by 1st November 2022 and last between 12 and 18 months. Innovate UK also requires all project work to take place in the UK and an intention 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
- involve at least one grant claiming SME
You can also collaborate with other UK registered organisations, such as businesses of any size, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations, and research and technology organisations.
More Information
More information is available on the competition page. If you are looking for bid writing support, please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
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2021: Year in review
As 2021 draws to a close, we look back on what has been another busy year for RedKnight Consultancy. Here are some of our highlights:
RedKnight in Numbers
We are particularly proud to have reached the £10 million milestone this year – meaning we have secured over £10 million of innovation grant funding for our clients! Not only this, but we have now submitted almost 200 proposals (between September 2015 and September 2021). Our average application score stands at 77.88%, with a success rate of over 38%.
Projects
This year, we’ve supported projects from a range of sectors, from medtech to advanced materials. This includes a successful application to Eureka Eurostars, securing €674,160 for the Free Space Optical Links for 5G networks (FrOLik) project. Impressively, FrOLik ranked 16th out of all 500 eligible applications to this call!
In more good news, RedKnight has been accepted onto the SETSquared framework, a collaboration between six universities that aims to engage more start-ups and SMEs with funding programmes. We look forward to starting in 2022.
We have also won several awards this year, including 'Most Outstanding Grants and Funding Specialists 2021' in the Global Business Insight Awards and “Start-Up Support Consultancy of the Year” in the Corporate LiveWire Global Awards.
Client Feedback
Above all, we are proud to have received lots of great feedback again this year - there is no better feeling than a happy client! Read some of our most recent testimonials below:
- “The RedKnight team is a pleasure to work with. Throughout the grant application process, we felt very supported, and really appreciated the extra thought and attention to detail provided by the bid writer.”
- “A professional and efficient team with an in-depth understanding of the Innovate UK application process.”
- “Dayne and Hannah were excellent - they were responsive, clear, and really focused on us as clients. It was a great experience, and we’ll definitely use RedKnight again.”
We would like to say a huge thank you to all our clients for your support this year. We look forward to following your projects in 2022 and working with you again in the future!
Are you planning to apply for grant funding in 2022? We’d love to hear from you – please contact us to arrange a free consultation.
Overview of eligible costs for Innovate UK applicants
What does Innovate UK mean by “eligible costs”?
Prospective grant applicants often ask what Innovate UK means by eligible costs, as this phrase features in most, if not all, Innovate UK competition descriptions. For example, they state that a Smart Grant project that lasts 6 to 18 months “must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000.”
Eligible project costs relate to direct research and development expenditure. For non-academic organisations, there are seven types of cost:
1. Labour costs
In this section, you should provide details of all employed staff working directly on the project. They should be on your payroll and subject to PAYE. Innovate UK then needs to establish the day rate for your staff; this is calculated by the number of working days per year minus bank holidays and your organisation’s annual leave entitlement. They will also need to know the length of time your organisation will be working on the project.
If you do not have a company PAYE scheme, you can still include your labour as an eligible cost. Please see UKRI for more information.
2. Overheads
Innovate UK offers three options for calculating overhead costs:
- No overheads
- 20% of labour costs – this is the standard option and allows you to claim 20% of your labour costs as overhead
- Calculate overheads – you will need to complete calculations for claiming direct and indirect overheads. Please note that Innovate UK will review this claim if your application is successful
3. Materials costs
You can claim the costs of materials for your project that you have purchased from third parties.
4. Capital usage
This section covers the usage costs of capital assets. They will need to meet the following criteria:
- Have a useful life of at least one year
- Be stand alone, clearly definable, and moveable
- Conform to your organisation’s capitalisation policy
5. Subcontract costs
You can claim costs relating to work conducted by third party organisations.
6. Travel and subsistence costs
You can also claim reasonable travel and subsistence costs for staff working on the project (i.e., those identified in the labour section).
7. Other costs
Lastly, this category is for any direct project costs that have not been covered in the other categories. For example, this may include workshop or laboratory usage charge-outs, training costs, preparation of technical reports, market assessment, licensing in new technologies, patent filing costs for new intellectual property, and regulatory compliance costs (if necessary to carry out your project).
More Information
You can find a full breakdown of eligible costs and the information you need to provide in UKRI’s costs guidance for non-academic organisations.
If you are looking for further support with an Innovate UK application, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us to arrange a free consultation.
WRAP and Innovate UK launch £1.7m competition to cut plastic pollution
WRAP and Innovate UK have launched a new fund to reduce plastic pollution in India, Chile, Kenya, and South Africa. The International Circular Plastics Flagship Competition has £1.7m available for solutions that respond to specific targets under the plastics pacts of these nations.
Scope
This competition will support market feasibility studies and early prototyping or pilot trials in global markets, with the overarching aim of reducing plastic packaging pollution. The funding focuses on the following four themes:
- flexible film packs including small format
- reusable packaging and new business models
- collection, sorting, cleaning and recycling
- end market development
All applicants must demonstrate that their proposal can address one or more of the specific challenge statements (see pp. 6-7 of the Guidance Document) for the country in which their project is taking place.
Eligibility
This competition is only open to UK registered organisations. They can apply for funding of between £50,000 and £250,000 to cover up to 100% of a project’s eligible costs. Where project costs are higher than £250,000, applicants will be expected to self-fund the excess amount.
To be eligible, applicants must have an innovative, replicable, tried and tested solution (TRL 6) that will address specific country challenges. In addition, they will need to complete the project and provide a detailed feasibility report by March 2023.
You can also find the full eligibility criteria on page 5 of the Guidance Document.
How to Apply
This competition has a single-stage application process. Before applying, you should complete WRAP’s pre-qualification questionnaire. If you meet the qualifying criteria, you will then receive a full application pack.
More Information
The International Circular Plastics Flagship Competition is open until 13th January 2022. For more information, see WRAP’s website or register to attend the briefing event on 2nd December.
If you are looking for bid writing support, please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
i4i Challenge Awards open for applications
The NIHR i4i Challenge Awards are open for applications! This competition provides funding to support the assessment of MedTech innovations in real-world healthcare settings. It aims to shorten the gap between the clinical evaluation of technologies and their adoption, therefore leading to a disruptive medical device or in vitro diagnostic test that can offer improved outcomes for NHS patients.
Am I eligible for funding?
- The lead applicant must be an SME, NHS provider, or higher education institution. They must also be based in England.
- Projects should involve a minimum of two organisations, with at least one of the collaborators being from an NHS provider.
- Technologies must have demonstrated safety and efficacy and must have obtained or be in the process of obtaining CE marking.
- Projects can last up to 3 years, but a duration of up to 5 years will be considered if a strong case is made.
What funding is available?
i4i Challenge funding supports the following research and development activities:
- Activities associated with the design and delivery of evaluations for innovations in healthcare settings
- Collection of effectiveness data if this is part of a clinical utility study
- Health economic analysis
- Work around market analysis and development of a business case for adoption
- Project management and stakeholder engagement activities
- Activities associated with data analysis, management, and governance
- Small changes to the technology that might be needed for its optimisation during the lifetime of the project
- Training associated with the implementation of the new technology
- Implementation research costs
- Activities associated with the dissemination of outputs
You can access the full scope for the i4i Challenge Awards here.
What is the application process?
All competitions under the i4i programme have a two-stage application process – only those successful at Stage 1 will receive an invite to proceed to Stage 2. Stage 1 is open from 4th November until 12th January, with applicants set to receive the results of their submission on 23rd March. Then, Stage 2 will follow with a deadline of 11th May.
How can RedKnight help?
RedKnight’s team of grant funding consultants has over 50 years combined experience, accessing more than £50 million. If you’d like our help applying to the i4i Challenge Awards, please get in touch today.