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Innovation

Autumn 2022 SME Funding Opportunities

Autumn is here and with energy costs, carbon reduction and sustainability all very topical we are seeing that reflected in the funding round-up for SMEs looking to innovate and apply for funding in late 2022 and early 2023. We are also seeing investment in healthy ageing, inclusive innovation and digitalisation of professional and financial services.

Circular Economy for SMEs - innovating with NICER, round 2

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million to research, test and develop step-change circular economy approaches. This can cover chemicals, bio-textiles, metals, or mineral based construction materials; or research/data work to accelerate the transition.

https://ktn-uk.org/opportunities/circular-economy-for-smes-innovating-with-nicer-round-2

 

Manufacturing - PEMD Scale-up:

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £5 million to scale up manufacturing in the power electronics, machines and drives supply chain. This strand will fund feasibility studies for innovative manufacturing solutions from other sectors.

Drivers such as climate change, supply chain resilience and the cost of energy mean that there is a growing need to invest in manufacturing efficiency, particularly across the Power Electronics Machines and Drives (PEMD) value chain.

Innovate UK’s Driving the Electric Revolution, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £5 million in projects that enable the scale-up of PEMD manufacturing to develop a resilient, cross-sectoral, UK supply chain for these enabling technologies critical for net zero.

This competition is split into two strands:

Strand 1: Adopting manufacturing best practice, which aims to fund feasibility studies that facilitate the transfer of knowledge, solutions, technologies and best practice from other manufacturing sectors and demonstrate the impact of these innovations on the PEMD supply chain.

Strand 1: Adopting manufacturing best practice

Strand 2: Manufacturing process development, which aims to fund innovative process development projects that impact manufacturing cost, capability and efficiency to grow resilient manufacturing PEMD supply chains.

Strand 2: Manufacturing process development

 

SSPP Future Plastic Packaging Solutions Round 2

UK registered businesses and organisations can apply for a share of up to £2.5 million for early-stage and mid-stage projects in smart and sustainable plastic packaging.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £2.5 million from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Programme for early-stage and mid- stage projects.

This funding is from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge which aims to establish the UK as a leading innovator in smart and sustainable plastic packaging for consumer products. Its goals are to deliver cleaner growth across the supply chain, with a dramatic reduction in plastic waste entering the environment by 2025.

https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1285/overview/30fab724-cc5e-4dca-8874-1c559629168f

 

A new £4.1 million prize to develop life-changing technology launched in September 2022

Alzheimer’s Society, Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council (MRC) have together announced that a new £4.1m Longitude Prize on Dementia to change the lives of people living with dementia will launched this September. The prize will be delivered by innovation challenge prize experts, Challenge Works.

The Longitude Prize on Dementia | Challenge Works

 

Inclusive Innovation Award 2022 – 2023

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £2.5 million for Inclusive Innovation Awards across the UK.

The aim of this competition is to support micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SMEs), who have a track record and demonstrable positive impact for the target audience. This must be in developing innovations centred on equality, diversity and inclusion in their design and development.

Competition overview - Inclusive Innovation Award 2022 to 2023 - Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk)

 

Innovation in Professional and Financial Services

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £7 million in innovation projects. These will be to support the development of new technology enabled service within Professional and Financial Services.
The aim of this competition is to advance the Professional and Financial Services sectors by supporting them in the creation and adoption of digital approaches and new digitally supported services.

This competition is split into 2 strands:

https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1289/overview/2036e5d0-65d0-460e-b40e-cf1b5d875ca1

Competition overview - Innovation in Professional and Financial Services – single applicants - Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk)

 

Ongoing funding that can also be included (calls have been updated)

Innovation Loans Future Economy Competition – Round 6

UK registered businesses can apply for loans for innovative projects with strong commercial potential to significantly improve the UK economy.

Innovate UK is offering up to £25 million in loans to micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Loans are for highly innovative late stage research and development (R&D) projects with the best potential for the future. There should be a clear route to commercialisation and economic impact.

https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1306/overview/6b5b8bae-b281-4eb7-95fb-4f16ea7b8472

 

Partner with a world class University to advance and transform your business.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP): 2022 to 2023 Round 4

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) create dynamic connections between businesses and the UK’s world-class knowledge base to deliver strategic innovation projects. The KTP partnership brings new skills and the latest academic thinking into the business partner to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project.
Transforming your business Knowledge Transfer Partnerships can help your business:

  • Embed expertise, generate new knowledge, expand capability and foster a culture of innovation
  • Drive competitive advantage through accelerated innovation and the possibility of creating Intellectual Property
  • Gain privileged and cost-effective access to the UK’s world-class knowledge base and resources
  • Increase revenue through access to new markets and new product development
  • Improve profits through efficiency gains, increased productivity and better processes
  • Benefit from the strategic input of a highly experienced Knowledge Transfer Adviser and access

Closes: 16 November 2022

https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1290/overview/19507e0e-9103-4465-bb08-32fca8a65574

 

Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP)

A £16 million programme to boost small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) defence innovation launched in July.

With the innovation of SMEs, the resources of big suppliers and initial funding from government, DTEP is designed to bring the key components together to allow pioneering projects to flourish.

The aim is to keep the UK at the forefront of defence technology, improving the capabilities available to ouThe programme is delivered by the Ministry of Defence’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), working with Innovate UK.

Individual grants of up to 50% of a project’s value, to a maximum of £500,000 per grant, will be available through DTEP for collaborative projects between SMEs and larger suppliers.

The grants will support the integration of novel technologies, materials and processes into defence supply chains. The grants will support the integration of novel technologies, materials and processes into defence supply chains.

Closes: Open Call

DASA launches DTEP - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)


Applying for grant funding can be daunting; from finding the right fund to preparing an application, support is available to you.

Reach out to your Innovation Advisor today, to find out more about how we can help you reach your innovation and business goals in 2023.

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