Funding Competition: Innovate UK Investor Partnerships – SME Round 8

These investor partners have demonstrated that they have the credibility, capability, capacity and appetite to invest in innovative, technology-led businesses that align with the programmes.

The future economy investor partnership programme brings together:

• Innovate UK’s expertise in identifying innovation and using grant funding to change the risk profile of businesses
• investor partners’ aligned funding and expertise in identifying opportunities and teams that can best use extra investment finance

This approach aims to provide you with support for research and development and access to the capital investment you need to develop and commercialise your innovations.

Innovation and ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. They want to see investments unlocked for the diverse and extraordinary talent in the UK. They encourage innovation involving communities that are typically under-represented, including:

• from regions that have historically accessed lower levels of investment (outside London, Oxford and Cambridge)
• ethnic minority groups
• women and other marginalised genders
• disabled people
• people with non-traditional education backgrounds

Project Size

• Your project’s total costs will depend on your research category and must be between £50,000 and £300,000 for feasibility studies, £100,000 and £1 million for industrial research, £250,000 and £2 million for experimental development.

Projects they will not fund

• They are not funding projects that:
  • are not carried out by SMEs
  • are collaborative R&D projects
  • are not part of a company’s growth plan
  • are unable to prove there is potential for return on investment and growth
  • are large capital infrastructure
  • have not been invited by a specified investor partner

Who can apply?

• For feasibility studies projects:
  • your total project costs must be between £50,000 and £300,000
  • the project duration must be between 6 and 12 months
• For industrial research projects:
  • your total project costs must be between £100,000 and £1 million
  • the project duration must be between 6 and 12 months
• For experimental development projects:
  • your total project costs must be between £250,000 and £2 million
  • the project duration must be 12 months
• Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
• Your organisation
  • This competition is open to single applicants only. To apply your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized business (SME)
    • carry out its project work in the UK
    • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
    • be invited to apply by your investor partner
• 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.
  • You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.
  • You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. They will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
  • All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.