Applying for innovation funding can be competitive, but a well-structured application can significantly improve your chances of success. We spoke to innovation funding specialist, Dr Dominique Morrison (Dominique Morrison Consulting) about how SMEs can improve their chances of securing innovation funding. Dominique is based in Newcastle upon Tyne and has supported many North East companies to access innovation funding to grow their businesses.
What kind of projects are suitable for innovation funding
In general, innovation funding is for highly innovative and inherently risky innovation projects that are looking to deliver effective solutions for real business, societal or environmental challenges. Successful innovation projects focus on both the development and commercialisation of new products, processes, or services with strong potential for significant economic impact and growth.
There are many factors to consider when working out if an innovation project is suitable for innovation grant funding. First of all, you need to make sure you meet the eligibility criteria and that your project strongly aligns with the scope of the innovation funding competition.
Who is the main provider of innovation funding/support in the UK?
Innovate UK is the main provider of innovation support for companies across the UK. It is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which is a non-departmental public body funded by the Government.
Innovate UK helps businesses grow by offering innovation grant funding, innovation loans and business support. They fund projects focused on development and commercialisation of the most innovative new products, processes, or services. Project costs typically range from £25k to £2 million.
Do Innovate UK support businesses here in the North East?
Absolutely! Innovate UK funding is accessible for UK-registered businesses of any size. They also fund research and technology organisations, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, and public sector organisations. Innovate UK funding is awarded through a competitive process.
By registering on the Innovate UK website you can be alerted when the competitive funding calls are announced. Although now closed to applications, an example of a recent call is Investor Partnerships in digital technologies, North East. This focussed on digital innovations and aimed to leverage the North East’s strengths in AI, immersive technology and software development.
Are there other sources of innovation funding for businesses, and where can businesses find out more?
The European Commission is another major provider of innovation funding. They tend to fund large, collaborative projects across a wide range of sectors under their Horizon Europe Programme. There are many other sources of innovation funding out there, including smaller, locally managed grants for initial feasibility studies or proof of concept work.
The North East Growth Hub has a dedicated area on its website where North East businesses can find information on finance and funding opportunities across the region. Organisations such as Innovation SuperNetwork can assist businesses sourcing funding for innovation through their Pathways to Funding programme.
The GrantFinder online tool (grantfinder.co.uk) is a fantastic resource to find local, national, and international sources of funding. The leading funding database in the UK, it provides information on thousands of funding sources, including: charitable trusts, societies, research councils, national government, and corporate sponsors.
What advice would you give to North East SMEs seeking out innovation funding in the region?
I would actively encourage North East business owners to explore Innovate UK funding and other sources of innovation funding. However, it’s important to remember that innovation can have very specific eligibility requirements and there is also a limit on the number of applications you can submit. It’s important to do the preparation well ahead of making a submission.
Businesses can access free support from Innovate UK Business Connect. Locally, you can reach out to organisations such as the Innovation SuperNetwork for help and advice too.
What are your three innovation funding top tips?
Tip #1: Take some time to decide if innovation grant funding is the right path for you and your business. Ask yourself - do you actually need grant funding?
Developing a high-quality grant funding application is really time-consuming. Even with external support, you will need to dedicate significant resource. Also, it is a competition, so winning funding is not guaranteed.
Tip #2: Work out if your project is the right fit for innovation grant funding. Does your project fit the competition scope? Is your idea truly game-changing, innovative and/or disruptive and ambitious. Will it lead to new products, processes or services? Are you realistically aiming for rapid commercialisation?
Tip #3: Make sure you understand the need for your innovation. Are you trying to address a major business, social, or environmental problem? You really need to be able to evidence the size of the challenge. Can you show how your project will bring new products or services to market that can solve major business, social, or environmental problems.
What are common pitfalls when applying for innovation funding? Where do businesses go wrong?
Innovation funding application forms can appear relatively short. e.g. 10 questions with 400 words per question available for response. Consequently, applicants often grossly underestimate the time needed to plan and write a winning application.
Assessors are looking for concise responses, but with all the necessary information.
Applicants are often tempted to start writing the application, without really thinking about; why they are developing a solution, how they will deliver the project and what impact a successful project would have.
Getting straight down to writing seems like a good idea, especially when there is a tight deadline. However, this approach can be much more time-consuming as the innovation project tends to evolve in parallel with the writing. This can result in several major re-drafts of the application.
Can you give us an example of a North East business you’ve supported to access funding from Innovate UK? And what impact did it have on the business?
Sunderland-based company, OneClickComply, provide businesses with software solutions to help them achieve cybersecurity and privacy compliance. I supported OneClickComply with a recent application for Innovate UK Investor Partnerships innovation funding. Following a thorough pre-submission review, I identified key areas of the application that required strengthening or further clarification.
I provided OneClickComply with very specific and actionable feedback, alongside additional suggestions regarding structure and content.
OneClickComply used my feedback to significantly improve their application. They secured over £600,000 from the grant and private investment to further advance their unique and highly innovative technology.
This funding has helped to unlock significant further investment and has directly enabled OneClickComply expand their workforce by 400%, creating highly skilled cyber jobs in our region.
This additional investment contributed to over £1.2M in pre-seed funding for OneClickComply.