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.
Funding available to develop a digital regulatory navigation platform for health products
Through a new SBRI competition, organisations can apply for a share of £3 million to develop a digital regulatory navigation platform for health product innovators. This funding is from Innovate UK and will support proof of concept projects.
This is phase 1 of a potential 2 phase competition. A decision to proceed with phase will depend on several factors, including the outcomes from phase 1, availability of funding and assessment of a separate application. If phase 2 goes ahead, it will support extended data collection and beta testing activity with end-users.
Scope
Firstly, projects must demonstrate the principle of an intuitive digital regulatory navigation platform that enables users to understand and explore the regulatory pathways for the healthcare product they are developing. They should also provide users with information and access to UK support structures that are relevant to their commercial R&D, for example, standards, UKAS accredited test labs and Notified Bodies.
All proposals should:
- Demonstrate a credible and practical route to market
- Include a plan to commercialise your results
- Utilise externally maintained nomenclatures
- Focus on healthcare products for the UK and EU, but be scalable to other sectors and global markets in the future
Eligibility
Projects must fulfil the following eligibility criteria:
- Start by 1st November 2021 and end before 31st March 2022
- Last up to 5 months
- Have total eligible costs from £250,000 to £1 million inclusive of VAT
- Demonstrate a deep understanding and expertise of the regulation of health products within the UK and EU
- Understand challenges facing innovators or businesses seeking to bring innovative products to market
Organisations of any size can lead a project. They can work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors.
Applications must attribute at least 50% of the contract value directly and exclusively to R&D services. For example, this may include solution exploration and design, prototyping, and field-testing the product or service.
More Information
This competition will open from 23rd August until 20th September. For more information and to apply, please visit the competition page. If you are looking for bid writing support and would like to arrange a free consultation, get in touch today.
Grants available for small scale R&D to transform the UK’s Foundation Industry sector
The Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge Fund, in collaboration with Innovate UK, will invest up to £1.5 million in small-scale R&D projects. Split across two strands, the competition aims to improve the competitiveness of the UK’s Foundation Industry sector by helping it to become more environmentally sustainable.
All projects must address the resource productivity or energy performance opportunities of the sector and its supply chains. To do this, they must focus on the development of new: markets; business models; products and services manufactured by the sector; products and services created by suppliers to the sector; or processes.
Specifically, projects can focus on one or more of the following themes:
- Energy costs and optimisation
- Process measurement, optimisation and digitisation
- Waste recycling, utilisation and symbiosis
However, this is not an exhaustive list; Innovate UK will also consider other technologies or projects that fit the scope of the challenge.
Strand 1
Firstly, Strand 1 projects must:
- have total eligible costs between £25,000 and £75,000
- start on 1 February 2022 and end by 31 January 2023
- last between 3 and 12 months
- carry out all of 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 SME. However, the lead organisation can choose to collaborate with other businesses of any size, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations, or research and technology organisations.
Strand 2
Secondly, Strand 2 projects must:
- have total eligible costs between £75,000 and £250,000
- start on 1 February 2022 and end by 31 January 2023
- last from 3 months to 12 months
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
To lead a Strand 2 project, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size and collaborate with UK registered businesses, academic institutions, research organisations, not-for-profits, or research and technology organisations. In addition, the project should include at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise.
ISCF Transforming Foundation Industry will open from 16th August until 29th September. For more information, please see the respective competition pages: Strand 1 and Strand 2. Alternatively, contact RedKnight as soon as possible if you would like to discuss an application with one of our advisers.
Innovate UK Smart Grants: August 2021
Innovate UK has announced that a new round of Smart Grants will open on 26th August, with a deadline of 6th October 2021. £25 million will be available for disruptive R&D innovations that could 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.
Your proposal 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 April 2022 and end no later than 31st March 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 - sign up for RedKnight's monthly newsletter today to receive a free copy direct to your inbox!
APC 19: funding available to develop the UK’s low carbon automotive capability
The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) is investing £25 million in late-stage, collaborative R&D to develop automotive technology and processes. Through APC 19, they aim to grow capability to support the UK automotive industry’s transition towards net zero.
Scope
Projects should demonstrate the development of on-vehicle technologies (including material, product and manufacturing processes) for on or off-road vehicles. They should either i) accelerate the development of technologies capable of low and zero tailpipe emissions or ii) demonstrate a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions leading to air quality improvements.
A number of technologies are in scope, including motors, batteries, vehicle hydrogen systems, power electronics, hybridisation, lightweight vehicle structures, and alternative propulsion systems. All proposals must align with the UK’s Green Industrial Strategy and clearly demonstrate how high-value R&D will take place in the UK because of this funding.
Eligibility
All projects must fulfil the following criteria:
- Have total eligible costs between £5 million and £40 million
- Be a minimum of 50% match funded
- Start before 1st April 2022
- Last between 18 and 42 months
- Carry out 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 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 consortia a vehicle manufacturer or tier 1 supplier who supplies parts directly to an original equipment manufacturer
- Collaborate with others - specifically, Innovate UK suggests that projects contain up to 6 project partners.
More Information
APC 19 is open from 9th August until 6th October. For more information and to apply, please visit the competition page. 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.
Innovate UK Announces Women in Innovation Awards 2021/22
Through the Women in Innovation Awards 2021/22, 20 female entrepreneurs will receive a £50,000 grant and a bespoke package of mentoring, coaching and business support. The competition aims to fund and support a diverse portfolio of Women in Innovation Award winners:
- who will be relatable role models for women from all backgrounds
- from regions across the UK
- who are solving a range of pressing societal, environmental and economic challenges
Applications can come from any area of innovation and be applied to any part of the economy. However, applicants must be confident that their project, with the support of an award, will make a significant contribution to a pressing societal, environmental or economic challenge.
Eligibility
Projects must start on 1st April 2022 and last for one year. To be eligible for an award, you must also fulfil the following criteria:
- be a female founder, co-founder or senior decision maker within a UK registered micro or SME business which has been operating for at least 12 months by the competition closing date
- carry out your project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- be legally and contractually able to use the funding
- attend an online interview panel during the week beginning 6 December 2021
- attend 2 bootcamps over one and a half days each on the 16 and 17 March 2022 and in September 2022.
- commit to work as a role model for up to 5 days over the duration of the award.
Background
Innovate UK launched Women in Innovation in 2016 to encourage gender diversity throughout UK innovation. At the time, just 14% of applications to Innovate UK were led by women – despite success rates between male and female applicants being largely equal! Since then, the number of women leading applications for grants to Innovate UK has increased by 70%.
More Information
The Women in Innovation Awards will open on 23rd August and close on 6th October. If you would like to learn more, register to attend KTN’s briefing event on 24th August! For application support, please contact us to arrange a free consultation.