Grant funding is often overlooked, however schemes are available that will fund development projects from technical/market feasibility to pre-commercial validation. Manufacturing and Materials is one of Innovate UK’s priority areas and has a bi-annual competition to fund projects from this sector. A total budget of £15m has been made available to fund a large portfolio of projects of different sizes and maturities.
The scheme supports UK based organisations to conduct R&D leading to innovation. Projects must cover at least one of the following areas:
• Innovation in a manufacturing system, technology, process or business model.
• Innovation in materials development, properties, integration or reuse.
Applications are particularly encouraged where this innovation can be applied to more than one sector. Projects should last between 6 months and 3 years, with £50k-£2m of grant available (funded up to 70% of total cost). Projects must be led by a UK-based business of any size, working alone or in collaboration with other commercial, research and/or third sector organisations.
Registration Deadline: 18 January 2017
Application Deadline: 25 January 2017
If this competition is not suitable, Innovate UK also have their Open Programme, which funds R&D/innovation projects from any sector involving any technology.
For help with the qualification of project ideas for alignment against these schemes, or for further information on our flexible writing support, please contact PNO on 0161 488 3488, or email james.hughes@pnoconsultants.com