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.
Not the competition you’re looking for? Subscribe to our free monthly newsletter to receive the latest grant funding opportunities direct to your inbox.
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.
Made Smarter Innovation Programme launches funding call for digital innovation projects
The Made Smarter Innovation Programme has launched a new funding call for digital innovation projects. UK registered organisations can apply for a share of £20m if they have an idea to improve the resource efficiency and energy efficiency of manufacturing processes.
This competition has 2 strands:
- Strand 1 - Digital innovation with manufacturing data
- Strand 2 - Digital innovation in manufacturing processes
Scope
The competition aims to develop digital innovations to improve the sustainability of manufacturing processes. Therefore, all projects must focus on developing digital solutions to:
- Reduce the amount of waste or other in-process material losses through the manufacturing steps
- Reduce the energy consumed by a manufacturing process
- Better sequence or schedule the manufacturing operations to reduce material or energy consumption
- Better separate waste materials to facilitate material reuse
Projects must also fit into one of the competition’s two strands, which you can read more about here.
Eligibility
Firstly, the lead applicant must be a UK-registered business. In addition, they must work in collaboration with other UK-registered organisations and ensure that at least one SME is involved in the project.
All projects must:
- Cost between £1m and £8m
- Not exceed the maximum grant limits (50% for strand 1 and 40% for strand 2)
- Start before 1st September 2022
- Last between 12 and 24 months
- Include both manufacturing and digital technology capabilities in your consortium
- Apply to at least one manufacturing sector
- Involve a single factory or multiple factories
- Carry out all project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
More information
The latest Made Smarter Innovation competition will open from 1st November 2021 until 26th January 2022. For more information, please visit the competition page or register to attend the briefing event on 9th November. If you are looking for bid writing support, please contact us to arrange a free consultation.
Grant funding available for SMEs developing innovative aerospace technologies
Through NATEP helping SMEs innovate in aerospace, UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of £2.5 million to develop innovative aerospace technologies. This competition is run by Innovate UK, in collaboration with the Aerospace Technology Institute and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Scope
This competition aims to help SMEs develop innovative aerospace technologies, therefore enhancing their capabilities and increasing their ability to win new business in the civil aerospace sector. All projects must have a credible route to market and preferably have identified their end-users.
Additionally, all projects should:
- Demonstrate improvement in business productivity and competitiveness
- Show clear benefit technically
- Be able to pull through new technology or processes for use in a current or future product or manufacturing process
- Show clear benefit in creating or safeguarding jobs
- Be able to enhance capabilities within the broader aerospace industry, as well as other sectors such as advanced manufacturing
Eligibility
Firstly, the lead organisation must be a UK registered SME. They must work in collaboration with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, research technology organisations, public sector organisations, charities or academic institutions. In addition, they will need to sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute framework agreement.
Innovate UK primarily expects to fund businesses that are new to research and development or are restarting R&D activity. Their projects must:
- Have total eligible costs between £150,000 and £300,000
- Last between 12 and 18 months
- Start by 1st June 2022 and end by 31st March 2024
- Carry out all project work in the UK
- Intend to exploit its results from or in the UK
More Information
This competition will open from 15th November 2021 until 12th January 2022. For more information, visit the competition page or register to attend the online briefing event on 22nd November. If you are looking for bid writing support, please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
Innovate UK Smart Grants: frequently asked questions (FAQs)
In today's blog, we answer some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about Innovate UK Smart Grants. We hope this information will help with most queries, but if you can’t find the answer you are looking for, please feel free to contact us.
1. 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 from any area of technology.
2. Who can apply?
Firstly, the lead applicant must be a UK-registered business of any size or a research and technology organisation. They can work alone or in collaboration with other businesses, academic institutions, research organisations or the third sector. However, all projects must include at least one SME. In addition, all project activity should take place in the UK (including subcontracted work).
If your project’s duration is 6 to 18 months, it:
- must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000
- can be single or collaborative
If your project’s duration is 19 to 36 months, it must:
- have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £2 million
- be collaborative
3. What funding is available?
The current round will invest £25 million in innovative projects. The amount available for individual projects depends on several factors, such as the stage of development and the size of the business.
For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
- 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
- 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
- 50% if you are a large organisation
For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
- 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
- 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
- 25% if you are a large organisation
4. Is stage of development important?
Innovate UK supports projects at various stages of development, with funding available for the following research categories: feasibility studies, industrial research, and experimental development. It’s important that you correctly identify your research category, as a higher level of grant support is available for projects at earlier stages of development.
5. How do I apply?
To apply, you must complete an application via the Innovation Funding Service. The application form has three sections: project details, application questions, and finances. You will be scored for your answers to questions 2 to 11, which can each be up to 400 words long.
Your application should also include appendices for the following questions:
- Approach and innovation – include diagrams and charts to provide more detail about the innovation.
- Team and resources – provide a short summary of all staff involved in the project.
- Project management - submit a project plan or Gantt chart to support your answer.
- Risks – submit a risk register to support your answer
6. What is the assessment process?
Applications that meet the eligibility criteria will be independently assessed by between three and five assessors. They will provide scores and written feedback for each section of your application. Then, applications will be ranked based on the average of all assessor scores. The highest-ranking applications will be recommended to Innovate UK for funding.
7. What is the average score needed for a successful application?
Typically, you will need to score at least 80% to have a realistic chance of success. However, in recent Smart Grant rounds, the threshold has been as high as 84% for Stream 1 (projects up to 18 months) and 87% for Stream 2 (projects between 19 and 36 months).
8. What are the chances of success?
Innovate UK Smart Grants are extremely competitive. The latest available data is from the November 2020 competition; in this round, 5% of Stream 1 applications and 8% of Stream 2 applications were successful (Source: whatdotheyknow.com).
9. Can I apply again if I am unsuccessful?
The simple answer is yes, you can resubmit if your first attempt is unsuccessful. However, you are limited to a maximum of two applications to Innovate UK with any given proposal.
10. 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.
Innovate UK funding call for circular economy innovation projects
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of £1 million in order to deliver circular economy innovation projects. This competition is part of the £30 million UKRI National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research programme, which aims to accelerate the UK’s transition to a circular economy.
Scope
This competition will support feasibility studies, industrial research and experimental development projects that address the challenges of transitioning to a circular economy. Specifically, projects can focus on one or more of the following examples:
- piloting the introduction of a circular economy business model
- development or improvement of products and processes to enable remanufacturing, repair and retention of value
- increasing understanding and exploitation of material flow data in a defined place (for example; city, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP), cluster, region)
- scaling-up of credible feasibility studies
- evaluating whether proposed approaches are more sustainable when considering broader life cycle thinking
This is not an exhaustive list – Innovate UK will also welcome other focus areas that clearly address the challenges of transitioning to a circular economy. To read the full competition scope, which includes projects that Innovate UK will not fund, click here.
Eligibility
All projects must:
- Have total eligible costs between £50,000 and £100,000
- Start no earlier than 1st April 2022 and end by 31st March 2023
- Last between 9 and 12 months
- Conduct all its project work in the UK
- Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
In addition, applicants must include at least one of the UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centres as a project partner. Alternatively, you can include a letter of support from one of the centres that demonstrates the alignment of the proposed activities to one or more Centres’ aims and objectives.
More Information
This competition will accept applications from 11th October until 8th December. For more information and to apply, click here. If you would like to discuss an application with a member of our team, please contact us today.
Innovate UK Smart Grants: October 2021
Innovate UK has announced that a new round of Smart Grants will open on 7th October, with a deadline of 12th January 2022. £25 million will be available for disruptive R&D innovations that have the potential to significantly impact the UK economy.
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 (including contractor or equipment failure, recruitment delays, etc) 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, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions.
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 July 2022 and end no later than 30th June 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 £25,000 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 most recent success stories here. For our assistance in 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!
SMEs Transforming Food Production: £5 million available for innovation projects
Through the Transforming Food Production Challenge, SMEs can apply for a share of £5 million to fund projects that will help food production systems achieve net zero. Projects must also align with a Series A investment, which you can read more about here.
All proposals must demonstrate how the project meets the overall aims of the ISCF Transforming Food Production Challenge, which are to:
- Help food production systems achieve net zero emissions by 2040.
- Help produce food in ways that are more efficient, resilient and sustainable.
- Speed up the development and use of integrated precision approaches to improve productivity in agricultural systems.
Scope
This competition will support the development of precision technologies and data-driven solutions. Specifically, projects must focus on one or more of the following themes:
- the development of precision solutions and systems that will make a significant step towards net zero emissions for food production
- improving the productivity of the agricultural sector
- stimulating the establishment of novel high-value production systems
- developing export opportunities
Funding is only available for experimental development projects. Applicants must demonstrate their ambition to finalise a late-stage innovation, as well as their potential to grow and scale their business through investment.
Eligibility
Firstly, the lead organisation must be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). To be eligible for grant funding, they will need to secure investment of at least twice the grant amount from one of the lead investors associated with the programme.
In addition, projects must fulfil the following criteria:
- have total eligible costs between £1 million and £3 million
- last 18 months, starting by 1 August 2022 and ending by 31 January 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 will open from 18th October until 17th November 2021. For more information, visit the competition page and register to attend KTN’s briefing event on 19th October. If you are looking for bid writing support, contact us to arrange a free consultation.
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:
-
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.
-
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.