Hello and welcome to the September 2019 edition of my funding opportunities blog.
In this funding blog you will find £ millions of government investment into research and development (R&D). The modern Industrial Strategy is now in place and an up to £4.7 billion challenge fund for R&D is starting to be pumped into UK organisations via these highly competitive competitions.
For this reason, Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has a fully-funded Bid Writing Support service to help Dorset organisations win some of this money. In the past month, we have moved forward on supporting two Dorset companies and initiating the planning for a Food Production bid and exploring a Health Ageing Trailblazer bid, potentially totalling in excess of over £10 million.
If you are a Dorset-based organisation looking to lead or partner on a challenge fund or Innovate UK (iUK) competition, get in touch to find out how we can support you.
Here are some of the latest competitions from Innovate UK
October expression of interest: ATI programme
The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme, formerly the UK Aerospace Research and Technology Programme, provides funding to industrial research and capital projects to encourage innovation in UK civil aerospace.
Closes: 23 October 2019
Enabling data access in accountancy, insurance and legal services: CR&D
Apply for a share of up to £3.5 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, to enable data access and innovation in accountancy, insurance and law.
Closes: 20 November 2019
SBRI: innovation in automated tunnel examination
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million, plus VAT, for projects that develop and demonstrate innovation to automate the examination of tunnels.
Closes: 13 November 2019
SBRI: innovation in rail security surveillance analytics, phase 1
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £968,000, plus VAT, for innovations that demonstrate security surveillance analytics in Network Rail stations.
Closes: 13 November 2019
GCRF demonstrate impact in meeting the sustainable development goals: phase 1
Organisations can apply for a share of up to £9.3 million to demonstrate market-creating innovations in lower income countries and emerging economies. This funding is Official Development Assistance from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
Closes: 13 November 2019
Innovation loans: September 2019 open competition
Loans for game-changing innovations with strong commercial potential that will significantly improve the UK economy.
Closes: 27 November 2019
ISCF healthy ageing trailblazers: stage 1
This is stage 1 of a 2-stage competition. A total fund of up to £2 million is on offer for stage 1 to conduct research and develop a business plan for a healthy ageing ‘trailblazer’. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Closes: 27 November 2019
CELTIC-NEXT autumn 2019: innovative 5G infrastructure and applications
UK organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million for 5G collaborative R&D projects in the EUREKA CELTIC programme.
Closes: 11 December 2019
SME support to evaluate innovative medical technologies: round 5
UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of £1.5 million to support the evaluation of innovative medical devices, diagnostics and regulated digital health products.
Closes: 11 December 2019
Innovate UK Smart Grants: October 2019
Opportunity to apply for a share of up to £25 million to deliver ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations that can make a significant impact on the UK economy.
Closes: 8 January 2020
ISCF Future food production systems
Apply for a share of up to £20 million to transform food production systems, improve productivity and sustainability, and help the industry move towards net zero emissions by 2040. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Closes: 22 January 2020
- Other grant funding opportunities:
Key technology components for local energy systems
Organisations can apply for a share of up to £3 million to develop technology components that help improve the efficiency of local energy systems.
Closes: 9 October 2019
UK Research and Innovation strength in places fund: wave 2 Expressions of Interest
Consortia of UK businesses and research organisations can apply for ‘seed corn’ funding of up to £50,000 to develop full applications for wave 2 of the UKRI Strength in Places Fund. Projects must be collaborative and led by either a UK based business or a UK publicly funded research organisation. All consortium members should be based within the project’s geographical area and have the support of local civic leadership.
Closes: 9 October 2019
Innovate UK Smart Grants: July 2019
Opportunity to apply for a share of up to £25 million to deliver ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations that can make a significant impact on the UK economy.
Closes: 16 October 2019
APC 14: developing the UK's low carbon automotive capability
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million for UK-developed late stage R&D, to support growth in advanced low carbon propulsion capability in the automotive sector.
Closes: 16 October 2019
Newton-Ungku Omar Fund Grand Challenge 2019: phase 1
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million and Malaysian businesses a share of RM 5.5 million to collaborate on innovative solutions to large societal challenges.
Closes: 23 October 2019
Commercialising quantum technology
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £27 million to collaborate on developing quantum products and services under two funding calls. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Commercialising quantum technology: large collaborative projects round 1
Commercialising quantum technology: feasibility and industrial research projects round 1
Closes: 30 October 2019 for both calls
ISCF Healthy Ageing Investment Accelerator: round 1
Investors can apply to distribute grant funding from Innovate UK with private equity investment into UK businesses to deliver innovation in the healthy ageing market. Grant funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Closes: 6 November 2019
Enabling data access in accountancy, insurance and legal services: CR&D
Apply for a share of up to £3.5 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, to enable data access and innovation in accountancy, insurance and law. To lead a project your organisation must have participated in the Innovation Lab.
Closes: 20 November 2019
Transforming UK construction round 2: MMC, digital and whole-life performance
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £10 million for collaborative R&D projects that improve productivity, quality and performance in UK construction.
Closes: 30 October 2019
Transforming UK construction: demonstrator projects
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £26 million for practical, demonstrator projects in MMC, digital and whole-life asset performance.
Closes: 6 November 2019
For all Innovate UK applications click here.
One Health: Aquaculture Expo:
Date: March 2020. Venue: Kingston Maurward, Dorchester
One Health is the globally understood umbrella term for the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health. The One Health 2019 national conference, held in Dorset on 6th September, has been deemed a great success and was supported by government, national businesses and over 20 support organisations and agencies, including the SETsquared Partnership, all four national Agri-Centres and Innovate UK. At the conference, a programme of One Health support activities was launched, including a national Aquaculture Expo in the spring 2020. The Expo event will bring together Aquaculture companies with buyers, investors, government, universities and others with early bird booking for exhibitors and delegates will go live in November 2019 – more on this next month.
In the meantime, visit our website to find out why Dorset is a good place for companies in the agri-tech, food and drink business and all about our designation from the UK Government as a High Potential Opportunity area in Aquaculture.
One Health Accelerator (OHA)
The OHA supports the development of commercial solutions to global ‘one health’ problems. We will work with the national agri-centres and other key organisations to provide support for funding bids and consortium development, as well as showcasing and highlighting business innovations through conferences, expos and across social media.
Fully-funded support is available now. Visit our website for more information and follow us on twitter @accelerator_one.
The SETsquared Partnership
One Health Campaign
SETsquared will be investing up to £100k from its Stimulus Fund into R&D project proposal development for major, upcoming One Health funding calls.
Applications of up to £35k per project will be welcomed from companies (including UK Scale-Ups, Primes/OEMs and their supply chains), researchers from the universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey and consortia (comprised of companies & researchers). The funds can be used for:
- consortia building
- securing grant funding & private investment
- proposal development for business-led collaborative R&D.
Applications will be open from 7 October 2019. Keep an eye on SETsquared.co.uk for further information or register for an alert by emailing: scaleup@SETsquared.co.uk
If you’re thinking about scaling-up your business, then have a look at the SETSquared Partnership and their scale-up programme.
SETsquared is also currently running a Healthy Ageing Campaign with funding for SME businesses.
Heard of the British Business Bank?
The British Business Bank (BBB) is a government-owned business development bank dedicated to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses. Whether you’re looking for finance to start a business, grow to the next level, or stay ahead of the competition, they say that they can deliver greater volume and choice of finance.