How businesses can get ready to apply for grant funding
Grant funding transforms the fortunes of businesses every year— yet with so many different competitions opening, it can be hard to keep track. In the third in a series of interviews, Laura O’ Neill, Grant Manager at innovation funding specialist— and Techies awards sponsor— Catax, explains what grants are available and how to get ready to apply.
How much grant funding is available in the UK?
Those are all very sector-specific— is all funding very specialised?
Laura O’ Neill Grant Manager
It amounts to hundreds of millions of pounds each year. Most of it is awarded by the country’ s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Since 2007, it has invested around £ 2.5billion to help businesses across the country, with match-funding from industry taking the total value of projects above £ 4.3billion.
Other major grant funding sources included the Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy( BEIS) and the National Lottery.
What kind of grant schemes are open at the moment?
Examples of funding rounds closing in the coming months include grants for early-stage agricultural projects with a focus on improving productivity and sustainability, the development of electric or hydrogen-fueled HGVs, and projects that address challenges in the healthcare sector.
A lot of grant funding schemes are aimed at specific sectors, and a lot now also have an environmental focus, but there are much more general funding rounds available too.
For example, Innovate UK sets rolling deadlines for its Smart grants. Any UKregistered organisation can apply for a share of up to £ 25 million for gamechanging innovations that can be rapidly brought to market.
Recent wins for our clients from the latest Smart round related to an IT project, Cannabidiol( CBD) production and the development of a new reflective material. Those businesses all came away with between £ 400k and £ 500k to get their projects underway.
What is the application process like?
Substantial amounts of money are at stake, so the application process is always very thorough. We recommend