This document provides an overview of innovation grant funding available from Innovate UK for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It covers what Innovate UK is, the types of grants available and eligibility criteria, the application process, delivering funded projects, statistics on past funding, and other sources of public funding for innovation. The goal of these grants is to promote research and industry collaboration to support economic growth in the UK. Successful applicants tend to have good proposals that demonstrate clear economic impact rather than just novel innovations.

1. Innovation Grant Funding for SME’s
Alan Gould
Grant Specialist and Consultant Project Manager
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2. What we’ll cover
Innovate UK
What are grants and how they are delivered
Why you should apply
The application process
Delivering a grant project
Other funding opportunities
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3. … is now under the new “UK Research and Innovation” agency
… is responsible for driving growth through innovation
chiefly by distributing R&D grants from various government depts
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£2.2bn
awarded
8,750
companies
8new
jobs each
GVA
return of
7:1
Since 2007:
to providing and

4. What is Grant Funding for?
• Turn scientific excellence into economic impact
• Deliver economic growth through innovation
• Promote research/industry collaboration
• Support the UK Industrial Strategy
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… accelerate UK economic growth by nurturing high-growth potential SMEs in
key market sectors, helping them become high-growth, mid-sized companies
with strong productivity and export success…

5. Control
Benefits
• Opportunity to take bigger risks in
product development
• Access new markets more quickly
• Build supply chain relationships
• Provides stability and resource
levelling
• Helps to attract other business
investment
• IP and Equity not diluted
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© Nick Sturge

6. Drawbacks
Grants can’t be treated like other types of
business investment:
• The funding is provided to offset costs
incurred in executing a pre-defined
business-led project.
• Business priorities can change between
initial application and project end.
Cashflow challenges:
• Costs are incurred (by you) and then
(partially) reimbursed.
Timeline:
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M0
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M7
M8
M9
Call Announced
Submission Deadline
Notification
Project Start

7. The process
https://apply-for-innovation-
funding.service.gov.uk/competition/search
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Clean
Growth &
Infrastruct.
Ageing
Society,
Health &
Nutrition
Global
AI and Data
Economy
Manuf.
Materials &
Mobility
Open,
Smart?

8. Eligibility and intervention rates
Grant rates by project type:
Projects must include an SME
Projects last between 6 months and 3 years
Projects above £100k and/or 12 months must be collaborative (except for Open competition)
Participation of universities and not-for-profit organisations capped at 30% of project budget
Each individual call can vary min/max sizes and participation requirements
Applicant Business Size
Fundamental
Research
Feasibility
Studies
Industrial
Research
Experimental
Development
Micro/Small (up to 49 staff) 100% 70% 70% 45%
Medium 100% 60% 60% 35%
Large (over 249 staff) 100% 50% 50% 25%
Universities 80% full economic costs (FEC)
Non-profits and public sector 100%
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9. How to apply – the application form
Typical Innovate UK format:
Question 1 Need or challenge
Question 2 Approach and innovation
Question 3 Team and resources
Question 4 Market awareness
Question 5 Outcomes and route to market
Question 6 Wider impacts
Question 7 Project management
Question 8 Risks
Question 9 Additionality
Question 10 Costs and value for money
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100 marks available
No weighting
50 Business Case
40 Delivery
10 Technology

10. Assessors
• Assigned from a pool
• Assessment is independent
• Between 3 and 5 assessments used to provide
averaged score
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11. Chances of Success
• Huge variation:
o 30% for highly specific call scope
o 2% for some Open calls
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Horizon 2020 example

12. Innovate UK – some statistics
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• Open calls are much more popular
• However, the quality thresholds are similar

13. Grants go to good proposals –
not (only) good innovation
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Thank you for your application. … Given
the widespread availability of "proper"
computers, the rationale for a device that
reverts to the early days of computing is
not persuasive.
The Raspberry Pi experience:
http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/ns_future_tech_supplement_nov_2016.pdf

14. Delivering a Project
• Grants are re-imbursement of costs incurred
• Costs must be:
o Incurred and paid within project start/finish dates
o Eligible
o Auditable
• Costs do not include:
o Profits
o Marketing, advertising, entertaining
o Legal
o Financing costs
• Majority of grants are covered by a State Aid Exemption
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15. Eligible costs
• Labour
o Must be paid via PAYE
• Not via dividends, royalties or fees
o Can’t include:
• Profit
• Discretionary benefits
o Can include overheads:
• 20% default, or higher if justified
• Non labour
o Travel, materials, and capital usage
claimed as incurred
o Subcontracting is fine, but needs to
be justified
• Work must take place in the UK
unless overseas subcontracts are
essential
• In-kind contributions encouraged,
but don’t offset grant
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16. A note on Cashflow
• Company must be able to be fund the balance of costs, and the
cashflow
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Example Cashflow:
24-month £480k project
70% grant support
£336,000 grant
- £186,000 cash position
£144,000 expended

17. Other products
•Loans for product
implementation (up to
£1M at 3.7% for up to 5
years)
•Combined
Grant/Investment calls
Innovate UK
•Open scope
•Collaborate with at least
one other non-UK partner
•Up to €360k per UK
partner and up to 36
months
Eurostars
•SME Instrument: Early
and mid-stage awards
available, up to €2M
Open scope, 3 calls per
year
•Participate in larger
collaborations.
Horizon2020
• Government CONTRACTS to
deliver R&D against a specific
challenge
• 100% reimbursement of costs
incurred
• Awarded as a competitive
tender through Innovate UK
process
SBRI
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18. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
• Access to skills and academic knowledge
• Post-graduate “Associate” is seconded to a company for
12 – 36 months
• Grant contributes to salary and supervision costs
• Cost to SME is approx. £35,000/y
• KTP website linked from the Innovate UK website
• Local contacts at Bristol, UWE and Bath.
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19. Example: Zeetta Networks
• Participation in H2020 REPLICATE project
o 36 partners, €29.3M, from 1st Feb 2016
o Zeetta awarded €400k
• SBRI “First of a Kind” Deployment
• Phase 1: £50k for business case development
• Phase 2: £1.5m to fund a deployment at Ashton Gate
to open up the Smart Stadia market
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20. Where to go next
• Innovate UK Competitions
• Innovate UK Loans
• Eurostars
• H2020 SME Instrument
• SBRI
• KTP
• lightholm.co.uk
• alan@lightholm.co.uk
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