The Funding Blog

Are you an ambitious young innovator looking for funds? Well, Innovate UK’s Young Innovators Awards competition has returned for 2021. Aimed at young people aged 18-30, UK-based residents can apply for an award to make their business idea a reality, which includes a grant for £5000, a living allowance, and tailored business support. Read More

R&D grant funding is a competitive and often time consuming application process. To ensure a successful approach you need to have a defined project before commencing the bid writing process. By doing this, you’ll ensure the right grant fit for your project whilst keeping a consistent narrative and alignment to your wider company strategy, which will catch the attention of the assessors and improve the quality of the proposition. In this blog, our grant writing team has put together 5 key focus areas to help you develop a grant fundable project, think of it as a pre-bid sanity check!

Read More

Digital Health combines information technology and mobile technology to meet the needs of healthcare services. These increasingly dominant technologies, some of which are developed by innovative UK SMEs, have the potential to provide the necessary tools to achieve accessible, affordable, and sustainable care, not only by serving current needs but also building the basis for the healthcare of the future: personalised, digital and truly patient centric.

Read More

According to the UK Government, innovative fast-growing firms account for less than 1% of UK companies, but such firms add £1 trillion to the UK economy and account for the majority of net employment growth and output growth. Therefore it is pleasing to see they are a main investment focus in The Budget 2021. Read More

Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits have become a valuable source of funding for companies and can aid in accelerating business growth. This blog encompasses everything you need to know about the scheme to help you identify if you are missing out on claiming expenditure spent on research and development.

Read More

One of the current focuses for the UK Government is trying to respond to the impacts of Covid-19 by widely investing in the UK’s recovery. Supporting jobs and businesses, building back greener and meeting the 2.4% of GDP target by 2027 for R&D spending are just some of the ways they are planning to challenge the economic impacts of the pandemic. Read More

Every funding competition has eligibility requirements, the requirements are there to make sure the funder receives value for money and that the project they are investing in will be a success. Reading through the full eligibility, scope and guidance is imperative, but sometimes it can be hard to navigate through the jargon to identify what the funder actually wants. This blog will help you to get a better understanding of eligibility by focusing on 3 key requirements. Read More

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the theory, and associated development, of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. AI-enabled devices and machines are environment aware and perform tasks in order to achieve a goal, based on probability, code, and rational ‘thinking’. AI is able to mimic cognitive functions associated with human abilities such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. Read More

The importance of ensuring your project reporting is managed correctly.

You’ve made it through the due diligence stage and the project is pending kick-off, but what is the best way to ensure that you remain compliant with Innovate UK’s reporting requirements and also put your company in a good position to secure follow-on grant funding? Read More

Introduction

The UK is set to host the critical United Nations climate change summit in 2021, has been one of the leading innovators in contributing to industrial decarbonisation, renewable energy and low carbon manufacturing. These industries are currently valued at £42.6bn forecast to grow at three times the rate of the national average for industry.
Read More

Innovate UK has recently launched its Innovation Continuity support package for existing award holders with current projects. The Continuity package forms a key part of the overall £1.25bn in COVID-19 funding announced by the UK Government in late April. Read More

Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced a new £1.25 billion coronavirus package to protect and support firms driving innovation in the UK.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

“Britain is a global leader when it comes to innovation. Our start-ups and businesses driving research and development are one of our great economic strengths, and will help power our growth out of the coronavirus crisis. Read More

A benefit of this strange situation we find ourselves in is that we have gained back time which would otherwise be filled with commuting to work or rushing to take the kids to school. This newfound time provides an opportunity to think about innovative creativity and business strategies that will achieve desired business growth goals. Grant funding is a route that can significantly aid in achieving these goals.

Read More

The Health and Life Sciences sector has seen a serious focus in the last few weeks as a result of the ongoing Covid19 pandemic that is sweeping through the UK and the wider world. The sector is now figuring out how best to continue to work and critically examining what can be done remotely and what needs to be kept running on site. Pharmaceutical companies are conducting risk analysis on their critical supply chains to see how they can be maintained, to allow them to continue manufacturing crucial drugs and hospital equipment whilst non-health organisations, such as beer brewing companies and conference centres are volunteering their skills and resources. Read More

Already heavily influenced by Brexit and the dynamics of a new Government and Chancellor keen to make a dramatic statement, many will feel that last week’s budget has been totally superseded by the extraordinary national and global response to the rapidly evolving Covid-19 pandemic.

However, whilst we are far from a “business-as-usual” environment, the budget does give a clear indication of how this Government intends to support UK R&D.  Read More