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:
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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.
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).
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.
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.
Future Flight Challenge Phase 3 Opens
The latest round of UKRI’s Future Flight challenge opens for applications this month. Through this competition, £65 million is available for innovation projects that develop and demonstrate integrated aviation systems and new vehicle technologies. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Phase 3 aims to build on the success of the 2020 Phase 2 competition, which invested a total of £33.5 million in over 40 innovative projects. You can read about some of the successful projects on the UKRI website.
This competition has two strands:
Strand 1, demonstrating aspects of these novel air vehicles and systems
Firstly, funding is available for projects that focus on the demonstration aspects of novel classes of electric or autonomous air vehicles and systems. Total eligible costs can range from £500,000 to £15 million.
The lead organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- be or involve at least one UK registered SME
- collaborate with other UK registered businesses, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profit, public sector organisations or research and technology organisations (RTOs)
Please note that academic institutions cannot lead an application.
Strand 2, cross-cutting technologies that enable the deployment and operation of new air vehicles
Secondly, projects can focus on developing enabling technologies and cross-cutting systems that support the deployment of novel air vehicles in UK airspace. Total eligible costs must be between £500,000 and £4 million.
To lead a project, your organisation must fulfil the following criteria:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- be or involve at least one UK registered SME
- collaborate with other UK registered organisations
Academic institutions are also ineligible to lead Strand 2 applications.
Future Flight Challenge Phase 3 will open from 6th September until 3rd November 2021. For more information and to apply, please visit the respective competition pages: Strand 1 and Strand 2. Additionally, if you are looking for bid writing support and would like to arrange a free consultation, get in touch today.