DASA launches new programme to support defence innovation

The UK Government has launched a new £16 million fund to boost small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) defence innovation. The Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP) aims to bring SMEs and large suppliers together to solve defence problems.

What funding is available?

DTEP is delivered by the Defence and Security Accelerator in collaboration with Innovate UK. It offers companies grant funding of up to 50% of a project’s value to a maximum of £500,000 per grant.

Who can apply?

Applications are open to SMEs who are looking to deliver new innovations into the UK defence supply chain. They must:

• Be based in the UK and plan to deliver their project in the UK.
• Plan to partner with a UK-registered Higher Tier Supplier at the point of submission and for the duration of the project.
• Have a project that aligns with one of the Enduring Capability Challenges.

How to apply

The application process has five stages:

1. Identify: Once you have a defence innovation project in mind, you should speak with your regional DASA Innovation Partner and identify a Higher Tier partner for your application.
2. Review: You should then complete an outline submission. This will be reviewed by an Industry Project Review Panel, and you will receive feedback and guidance from a DASA Business Relationship Manager.
3. Pitch: Next, you will need to complete a full submission and present this to the Industry Project Review Panel.
4. Assessment: The MOD will assess your proposal on its alignment to the Enduring Capability Challenges.
5. Award: If your project is successful, Innovate UK will award a grant and the project can begin.

More Information

DTEP is open for proposals all year round, with cycles closing at 3-month intervals for the assessment of applications. The first outline proposal cycle will close on 27^th October.

View the full competition guidance here or contact us if you would like to discuss a potential application.

by Jonny O'Rourke

Key changes to Innovate UK Smart Grants

This blog post provides an overview of the recent changes to Innovate UK’s Smart Grants competition.

What is Innovate UK Smart Grants?

Smart is Innovate UK’s open grant funding programme. It provides funding for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovation that can significantly impact the UK economy. The competition typically runs quarterly, with up to £25 million available per round. The next deadline is 27th July 2022.

What are the changes?

According to Innovate UK, the changes reflect how important it is that the project has economic benefits and potential for successful commercialisation, growth and exports. The key takeaways are as follows:

• There will be an increased focus on ‘game-changing’ innovation, as shown in Question 2.
• Projects will not be funded if the technology is available or used in another sector.
• There is a greater requirement to show how the proposal will lead to a significant return on investment for the UK taxpayer.
• Applicants must explain why they need Smart funding to succeed (over other routes of investment).
• Projects will not be funded if other Innovate UK funding support is available and deemed more appropriate.
• Applicants must demonstrate their capability to deliver the project in the required timeframe.

Innovate UK has updated the application form in line with these points. There are now seven questions to answer, which you can find on the competition page.

What next?

Before starting an application, you should carefully read the competition scope, eligibility criteria, and application questions. You may also find it useful to watch the competition briefing event.

In addition, Innovate UK recently revealed that around 50% of all Smart Grant applications aren’t right for funding! As a result, they have released a five-question checklist for prospective applicants to consider.

How can RedKnight help?

RedKnight can help you prepare a competitive application. Not only will this save you time, with grant applications taking an average of 6-10 weeks to complete in-house, but it will also increase your chances of success! You can view a selection of our case studies here. In addition, we can provide application reviews and support with resubmissions.

If you are looking for support with an Innovate UK Smart Grant application, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.

by Jonny O'Rourke

UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocates £585 million to Wales

Wales will receive £585 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) launched earlier this month. Here, we provide a short summary of the new Fund and what it means for Wales.

What is the UKSPF?

The UKSPF is a government-allocated fund set up to help spread opportunity and level up the country. The Fund aims to build pride in place and increase life chances across the UK. To achieve this, it has three investment priorities: communities and place; supporting local business; and people and skills.

The UKSPF will provide £2.6 billion of funding between 2022 and 2025, with this figure reaching £1.5 billion per year by March 2025. This includes £1.58 billion for England, £212 million for Scotland, £585 million for Wales and £127 million for Northern Ireland.

Why is the UKSPF being introduced?

The UKSPF is part of the Levelling Up agenda and replaces money previously allocated to communities through EU Structural Funds. According to the UK Government, it will be less bureaucratic and give more control to locally elected leaders. There will also be no requirement for match funding.

How will the UKSPF be delivered?

In England, Scotland and Wales, local governments will be responsible for developing an investment plan for approval by the UK government, and for delivery of the Fund’s interventions thereafter. However, the UK government will retain oversight of the Fund in Northern Ireland.

Welsh Government reaction

The UK Government say that the scheme fulfils a promise to match previous EU funding. But according to Welsh Government estimates, Wales would have received EU Structural funding worth at least £375 million per year had the UK remained in the EU. Instead, Wales will receive a total of £585 million from the Shared Prosperity Fund over the next three years – around £195 million a year. This has led First Minister Mark Drakeford to accuse the UK Government of ‘levelling down’ Wales through the new Fund.

You can read more about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund here.

by Jonny O'Rourke

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!

by Jonny O'Rourke

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 4^th November until 12^th January, with applicants set to receive the results of their submission on 23^rd March. Then, Stage 2 will follow with a deadline of 11^th 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.

by Jonny O'Rourke

Autumn Budget 2021: key takeaways for innovative businesses

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has presented his Autumn Budget in the House of Commons, setting out a range of new spending measures for the year ahead. From an increase in Innovate UK’s budget to new regional funding opportunities, there are several key takeaways for businesses involved in research and innovation:

Public investment in R&D

The government will maintain its target of increasing R&D investment to £22bn. However, the government has pushed this target back by two years; they will instead aim to reach £20bn by 2024/25 and £22bn by 2026/27. The Chancellor confirmed that this £20bn investment is in addition to the cost of R&D tax reliefs. Overall, total public investment in R&D will increase from 0.7% of GDP in 2018 to 1.1% of GDP by the end of this parliament.

There are further notable spending measures for research and innovation, including:

• Fully funding the UK’s association to Horizon Europe
• Increasing Innovate UK’s annual core budget to £1bn (up from £907m in 2021-22)
• Establishing the new Advanced Research and Invention Agency with £800m by 2025-26

Regional funding

There will be more funding for the British Business Bank's regional financing programmes. They will receive £1.6bn to deliver an expanded programme of activity, therefore enabling more innovative businesses to secure the funding they need to grow.

Significantly, this investment will pave the way for a £130 million fund to support SMEs in Wales. A £150m fund will be available for Scottish businesses, while £70m will expand the funding available for businesses in Northern Ireland.

R&D Tax Credits

The Chancellor announced two key areas of reform for R&D tax relief:

• Firstly, the scheme will be modernised; its scope will expand to include cloud computing and data costs.
• In addition, the government will introduce changes to refocus R&D tax relief on domestic activity from April 2023.

Summary

RedKnight's Co-Director, Dayne Hodgson, has summarised his view on the Autumn Budget:

“While disappointing that public investment in R&D will not reach £22bn until 2026/27, the Autumn Budget contains plenty of good news for UK innovators. It is great to see that Innovate UK’s budget will increase to £1bn, and we welcome the announcement of a new fund to support SMEs in Wales. Now, we hope that the UK will quickly finalise its Association to Horizon Europe to avoid further delay and disruption for UK applicants.”

You can access all Autumn Budget documents here.

by Jonny O'Rourke

i4i Product Development Awards open for applications

The NIHR i4i Product Development Awards are open for applications! Funding is available to support translational research and development of medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and high-impact patient-focused digital health technologies for NHS use.

Eligibility Criteria

Firstly, the lead applicant must be i) registered in England and ii) an SME, NHS provider or higher education institution. Projects should be collaborative and include at least two types of organisation from this list.

In addition, projects must have demonstrated proof of concept and have a clear pathway towards adoption and commercialisation. There is no upper funding limit but all costs must be fully justified.

How to apply

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 opened on 20^th October and will close on 8^th December, with applicants set to receive the results of their submission by 17^th February 2022. Then, Stage 2 will follow with a deadline of 13^th April 2022.

The following activities are eligible for funding:

• Research and development of medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices across all areas of existing or emerging healthcare need.
• Digital health technologies that fall under Tier 3 of the NICE Evidence Framework for Digital Health Technologies (.PDF), and that are focused on patient outcomes and intended for ultimate NHS use.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies including Augmented or Ambient Intelligence, applied in areas of health and social care including health promotion and prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
• Product development required to enable a technology for clinical use
• Research and development of techniques or technologies from a different industry sector, which could have a potential impact if applied in a healthcare setting.
• Feasibility studies if a technology from a sector other than health
• Studies to provide data relating to safety and effectiveness of a device
• Clinical utility studies
• CE/UKCA marking and other regulatory requirements
• Activities associated with the technology’s market access strategy
• Training associated with the implementation of new technology

Further information is available on the NIHR website.

How RedKnight can 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 Product Development Awards, please get in touch today.

Not the opportunity you’re looking for? Sign up for our free monthly newsletter in order to receive the latest opportunities direct to your inbox.

by Jonny O'Rourke

New £375 million Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme open for applications

Future Fund: Breakthrough is open for applications. The new UK-wide scheme is encouraging private investors to co-invest with the Government in high-growth, innovative companies. It will deliver £375 million of government funding via British Patient Capital, a subsidiary of the British Business Bank.

This funding is for businesses that are looking to raise at least £30 million of investment. The Government will provide up to 30% of the required investment and the remaining 70% should come from private investors.

The scheme is targeting innovators in a range of breakthrough technology sectors, including life sciences, quantum computing and clean technology. It will enable businesses to scale up and bring their transformational technologies to market, helping secure the UK’s position as a scientific superpower.

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for the scheme, a company must:

• Be a UK-registered business with significant UK operations i.e., at least half of the company’s employment base and half of its research employees should be based in the UK.
• Have secured at least £5 million of equity investment in previous funding rounds in the last five years.
• Be raising a minimum investment round size of £30 million.
• Be carrying out R&D activity in the UK by meeting all three of the following criteria:

1. 1. Your R&D spending must have been i) at least 10% of your total operational cost base on average over the last 3 years or ii) at least 15% in one of the past 3 years.
   2. Your company must be developing defensible intellectual property in the UK, which will become the company’s main revenue source.
   3. You intend for at least 20% of your team to be carrying out research for at least 3 years from the date of investment, in roles that require a relevant master’s degree or higher.

How to Apply

Companies cannot apply directly for Future Fund: Breakthrough funding. Rather, applications must be made by a lead investor, who should meet the criteria listed by British Patient Capital.

Firstly, the lead investor must complete an online application form to prove that they meet the eligibility criteria. Following this, they will share an investment paper with British Patient Capital which explains why they are making the investment.

The lead investor will then need to pass reputation and customer due diligence checks, and share any legal and financial due diligence reports that they have prepared on the benefitting company.

More Information

More information is available on the British Patient Capital's website. If this isn't the right opportunity for you, and you would like to explore alternative funding options, please contact us to arrange a free consultation.

by Jonny O'Rourke