Call for Project: Marine and Maritime in the Great South West – R2 MFA (UK)

This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme. The Launchpad programme supports the UK Government’s goals in the Levelling Up White Paper.

The projects will contribute to the Great South West’s ambitions for net zero targets and support for key regional strategic marine and maritime markets.

The businesses will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after the project.

Specific Themes

• Your project can focus on one or more of the following theme areas:
  • Monitoring and Autonomy
    • Developing or using disruptive technologies to replace traditional ship-based alternatives for equipment inspection and other marine monitoring operations and enhance safety of the seas, such as in the offshore renewable energy industry.
  • Clean Maritime
    • Transitioning to alternative fuel powered vessels using energy from low or zero emission sources or highly efficient batteries, also integrating ports into a decarbonised energy network and supplying the fuels of the future.
  • Digital Ocean Technology
    • Advancing sensor and communication technology and their connectedness and interoperability, to enhance the understanding of the ocean and the impacts from offshore operations, including in aquaculture and the emerging ocean economy.

Funding Information

• They have allocated up to £3 million to fund innovation projects projects across the two strands of this Launchpad competition for the Great South West.
• Funding will be in the form of Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA).
• Your total project costs will be up to 100% funded, up to the maximum grant of £100,000. Your grant funding request detailed within your application must not exceed £100,000. If your grant funding request exceeds £100,000 then your application will be made ineligible. Your project costs can be higher than your grant funding request.

Ineligible Projects 

• They are not funding projects that:
  • do not contribute to innovation activity in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West
  • require approval from the Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) for testing in an operational marine environment within the duration of the project
  • are led by a business that led a successful application to the Great South West Launchpad Round 1 MFA competition
  • request grant funding of less than £25,000 or more than £100,000
  • do not meet the competition eligibility or scope requirements
• They cannot fund projects that:
  • involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
  • involve primary production in agriculture
  • have activities relating to the purchase of road freight transport
  • are not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions
  • are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
  • are dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if they give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • have a total grant funding request of between £25,000 and £100,000
    • last between 6 and 12 months
    • carry out its project work in the UK
    • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
    • not start before 1 April 2025
    • end by 30 June 2026
• Lead organisation
  • To work alone your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
    • be growing your innovation activities in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West
    • have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • They expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.
• Number of applications
  • A business can lead on only one MFA strand application for this competition. Any subsequent applications submitted by the same business will be ineligible and will not be forwarded for assessment.
  • You are not eligible to apply to this Round 2 MFA competition if you led a successful application to the Great South West Launchpad Round 1 MFA competition.
  • If you apply to the CR&D strand of this competition, as well as this MFA strand, each project must be clearly distinctive and separate. They will monitor closely for this separation if you are awarded funding in both competition strands.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.