A benefit of this strange situation we find ourselves in is that we have gained back time that 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.
Grant funding has the ability to significantly accelerate project time frames and markedly reduce a product or service’s time to market, beating the competition and establishing first-to-market status. This can have a pronounced impact on your business through reducing the financial risk of your project, whilst simultaneously increasing commercial returns and subsequent business growth by allowing you to be ambitious in your project’s specification, all without releasing any equity.
Not only does grant funding accelerate time frames but it can unlock and facilitate collaborations, with unique industry, research, and academic partners to help deliver world-leading innovation projects. These collaborations open up access to new technologies, techniques, and expertise – further enhancing outcomes for your business.
Innovation grant funding covers a variety of cost centres including staff costs, at a rate of up to 70% (if you are an SME), plus an additional overhead on top of the staff element of 20%. This 70%+ intervention rate from the funder comes in the form of a non-repayable, non-dilutive grant – you don’t have to give away any hard-earned equity or pay back any interest.
One of the potential downsides of grants is they typically take 6 months from applying to project kick-off. In any normal setting, this could be a negative but an application made now will provide both a perfect opportunity to connect with potential partners and a project that will start in 6 months’ time when the external environment will be less impactful. You could be benefiting from a non-dilutive grant to kick off that ambitious project, dramatically accelerating your business growth and providing just the stimulus you need to succeed.
Take a look at our live funding opportunities to find the right fit for your innovation project.
If you’re looking for UK and EU funding opportunities for your project, get in touch with our team today for further guidance and support.
