SBRI: innovation in automated survey processing for railway structure gauging, phase 1
Businesses can apply for a share of £720,000, plus VAT, to develop a demonstrator for automated railway structure gauging processing. This is phase 1 of a 2-phase Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition open to organisations of all sizes based in the UK, EU or EEA. A decision to proceed with phase 2 will depend on the outcomes from phase 1. Network Rail will invest up to £720,000 (plus VAT) in phase 1 of this competition. An extra £1,080,000 (plus VAT) will be available for phase 2. This will support the development of a technological demonstrator for automated structure gauging processing. The competition process is managed by Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation.
The competition also supports the objectives of Network Rail’s Control Period 6 (CP6) funding strategy for research and development. Gauging is the process through which Network Rail ensures adequate clearance between passing trains and lineside objects and features. The objective of this competition is to: demonstrate innovations to Network Rail that will enhance the interpretation of point-cloud data and provide accurate information on the location and identity of trackside features to enable accurate gauging clearance processing.
Opens: 2 December 2019
Closes: 22 January 2020
To find out more click here
SBRI: innovation in railway platform end and edge technology
Opportunity for businesses to apply for a share of £1.08 million, plus VAT, to develop solutions to detect and deter trespass at railway platform ends and edges.
This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition. It is open to organisations of all sizes based in the UK, EU or EEA. Network Rail will invest up to £1.08 million, plus VAT. This will support the development of a technological and/or physical solution which will detect and deter trespass onto the railway from platform ends and edges. Whilst Network Rail are eager to embrace new forms of innovation, the solution must be scalable to suit a variety of station environments. This will be tested through trials at multiple live station environments.
Opens: 2 December 2019
Closes: 22 January 2020
To find out more click here
December expression of interest: ATI programme
The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme represents a £3.9 billion joint government and industry investment to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace. This programme is co-ordinated and managed by: the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation and the Aerospace Technology Institute. We work in collaboration to deliver a portfolio of projects to meet the objectives of the Aerospace Technology Strategy, ‘Raising Ambition’. This is an expression of interest competition. There are 3 stages and the whole process takes at least 6 months.
Opens: 2 December 2019
Closes: 18 December 2019
To find out more click here
ATI programme: R&D funding for smaller business, expression of interest
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £8 million in research and technology projects. This is to deliver world leading aerospace technologies in the UK. This call supports and encourages industrial investment into the aerospace sector and its supply chain, through the funding of innovative and high impact projects. These projects will demonstrate forward-looking and disruptive solutions to UK civil aerospace challenges. This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition. This phase is for expressions of interest. Phase 2 of this competition will open in February 2020 (dates to be communicated separately). Successful submissions to phase 1 will be reviewed for changes when submitted to phase 2; we will not accept unjustified changes to the project consortium or costs. Changes made, may lead to your application being rejected.
Opens: 25 November 2019
Closes: 15 January 2020
To find out more click here
ISCF TFP science and technology into practice: feasibility studies
Up to £15 million of grant funding is available through the Transforming Food Production Science and Technology into Practice programme. We are running 2 strands through this competition: feasibility study projects and demonstration projects. It is your responsibility to make sure you are applying for the correct strand.
Your feasibility study must:
- evaluate the early stage feasibility of precision solutions to transform food production
- work with end users, such as farmers and producers
- evaluate, in practice, the potential of early stage ideas that address industry identified problems
- consider both the technical feasibility and the feasibility of the business model
- consider the route to adoption
- enable decisions to be made on the future development of the solution.
Opened: 18 November 2019
Closes: 26 February 2020
To find out more click here
ISCF TFP science and technology into practice: demonstration
Up to £15 million of grant funding is available through the Transforming Food Production Science and Technology into Practice programme. We are running 2 strands through this competition: feasibility study projects and demonstration projects. It is your responsibility to make sure you are applying for the correct strand.
Your demonstration project must:
- demonstrate the viability of combinations of precision solutions to transform food production
- demonstrate solutions across different production environments, to encourage their widespread use
- work with end users
- produce evidence of technical feasibility and economic viability at commercial scale
Opened: 11 November 2019
Closes: 26 February 2020
To find our more click here
UK-Israel open collaborative R&D competition 2019
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million to develop innovative technologies targeting global markets in partnership with Israeli companies. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £1.5 million to fund collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. The UK and Israel are announcing a joint funding competition under the EUREKA framework. This will support collaborative, business led research and development (R&D) projects which should result in a new product, industrial process or service. Projects must be innovative, involve a technological risk and target large global markets. The competition will fund projects from any technological or market area. The national funding agencies will fund their respective participants in the projects.
Opened: 11 November 2019
Closes: 19 February 2020
To find our more click here
Bilateral UK and US offshore wind R&D programme, EoI
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £1.5 million in UK companies partnering with US consortia to work on projects as part of the $40 million US National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium programme (NOWRDC). Nine challenge areas have been identified which aim to reduce the cost and risk of offshore wind development projects throughout the US.
This is the expression of interest phase of the UK competition. There are 3 phases:
- UK expression of interest (EoI): applications are reviewed by Innovate UK.
- NOWRDC application: UK applicants join a US-based consortium to apply via the NYSERDA solicitation process.
- UK full stage competition: you will be invited to apply only if you are successful in this UK EoI phase.
Opened: 4 November 2019
Closes: 15 January 2020
To find our more click here
ISCF transforming foundation industries: fast start projects
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £5 million in innovation projects for the foundation industries. These will be cross-sector, collaborative, fast start, short duration, industrial research and development (R&D) projects. The aim of this competition is to bring businesses from different foundation industries together to work on common resource and energy efficiency opportunities. Your project can focus on any part of the manufacturing process, including: feedstock inputs, production and material product development.
Your consortium must include at least 2 businesses representing at least 2 sectors in the foundation industries (cement, glass, ceramics, paper, metals and bulk chemicals). Your project must not focus on fuel switching or technologies for the capture of emissions, such as carbon capture and storage.
Opened: 28 October 2019
Closes: 5 February 2020
To find out more click here
ISCF decarbonisation of industrial clusters: roadmaps
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is seeking to invest up to £1 million, split across 2 competition strands, to support collaborative projects to plan their route to cluster decarbonisation as part of the Industrial Decarbonisation challenge of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This is the first phase of a 2-phase competition. In phase 1 you must develop a plan setting out your proposed approach to phase 2. In phase 2 up to £8 million will be awarded for the development of industrial cluster decarbonisation roadmaps for major UK industrial clusters. These must set out how a cluster could be decarbonised to net-zero levels, in line with the Industrial Clusters Mission. Phase 2 is dependent on the success of phase 1. Only successful applicants from phase 1 will be invited to take part in phase 2. We are running a separate deployment strand at the same time as this one. It is focused on projects to deliver or support the delivery of significant emissions reductions in industrial clusters. You can apply for both strands. There will be additional funding for each strand in phase 2.
Opened: 28 October 2019
Closes: 4 December 2019
To find our more click here
ISCF decarbonisation of industrial clusters: deployment
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is seeking to invest up to £1 million, split across 2 competition strands, for collaborative projects to plan their route to cluster decarbonisation as part of the Industrial Decarbonisation challenge of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This is the first phase of a 2-phase competition. In phase 1 you must develop a plan setting out your proposed approach to phase 2. In phase 2 up to £131 million will be awarded for projects that will deliver, or support delivery of, significant emissions reductions in a UK industrial cluster by 2030, in line with the Industrial Cluster Mission. Phase 2 is dependent on the success of phase 1. Only successful applicants in phase 1 will be invited to take part in phase 2. We are running a separate roadmaps strand at the same time as this one. It is focused on the development of industrial cluster decarbonisation roadmaps. You can apply for both strands. There will be additional funding for each strand in phase 2.
Opened: 28 October 2019
Closes: 4 December 2019
To find out more click here
Driving the electric revolution: building regional centres of excellence
Up to £30 million is available to create regional centres of excellence for the development, prototyping and scale up of power electronics, machines and drives technologies. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is to invest up to £30 million in a single project to create a network of regional centres. The centres will be used by industry and researchers for the development and scale up of power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) technologies. The funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). The aim of this competition is to provide funding to establish the centres, building on existing capabilities and expertise where it already exists. The centres will support the industrialisation of PEMD technologies to help accelerate the growth of the UK’s supply chains for PEMD. The centres must be open access facilities that support the development, prototyping and scaling of PEMD technologies and manufacturing processes.
We will fund the investment in capital equipment needed to create the centres and operational costs to enable the centres to become established up to the end of 31 March 2024.
You must provide the remaining operational investment necessary over the centres’ lifetimes, which is expected to be at least 10 years, through your own investment and leveraging industry funding.
Opened: 23 October 2019
Closes: 4 December 2019
To find out more click here
SBRI: modernising energy data access and information, phase 1
This competition is funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, in collaboration with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). It is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition. It aims to solve the fundamental problem of exchanging digital energy information between energy organisations and with other stakeholders by supporting the development of products or services which can later be commercialised and employed to solve similar problems elsewhere. Up to £1.9 million is available for projects which will accelerate the development of tools and processes to modernise data services for the energy sector. For the UK to achieve its net zero emission ambitions, we must further decarbonise our energy supply and demand across heat, power and transport. Your proposal must demonstrate how you can achieve an efficient exchange of information in a way that minimises the technical burden of the solution and provides an effective user experience. Solutions must meet the needs of people within the energy sector and those from other sectors, so that they can more easily deliver products and services. The challenge will be delivered in 3 phases. Successful applicants in each stage will be eligible to apply for subsequent phases.
Opened: 16 October 2019
Closes: 2 January 2020
To find out more click here
UK-China: precision for enhancing agricultural productivity
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £5 million to work with Chinese partners to develop new integrated precision farming technology and help achieve net-zero emissions. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (MoST) are each investing around £5 million in innovation projects. Innovate UK will fund the UK partners and MoST will fund the Chinese partners. The aim of this competition is to encourage the use of data-intensive methods for commercial farming. This approach, described as either ‘precision farming’ or ‘smart farming’, is defined as the complete incorporation of: monitoring, intelligent decision support, action planning, timely and effective intervention autonomous technologies (sensors, systems, vehicles and robotics), and data-driven solutions to enhance productivity while reducing emissions. Your project must be business-led and aim to develop one or both of the following: autonomous technologies (sensors, systems, vehicles and robotics) and data-driven solutions to enhance productivity while reducing emissions. Your solution must have the potential to improve productivity and sustainability. It must lead to a significant reduction of emissions from agriculture, contributing to the target of net zero emissions from agriculture by 2040.
Opened: 14 October 2019
Closes: 15 January 2020
To find out more click here
NATEP: helping SMEs innovate in aerospace, autumn 2019
UK micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can apply for a share of up to £2.5 million for industry led civil aerospace research projects.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is working with the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Together we will invest up to £10 million in aerospace innovation projects as part of the ATI Programme. This competition is the first of 4 rounds. We plan to open the others every 6 months. The last round is scheduled for spring 2021. The aim of this competition is to provide help for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to develop innovative aerospace technologies. These will enhance your capabilities and increase your ability to win new business. Your proposal must align with the priorities stated in the UK Aerospace technology strategy. ATI will add new themes to the strategy before the competition closes. Projects which address the new themes will also be eligible for funding.
Opened: 21 October 2019
Closes: 4 December 2019
To find out more click here
Innovate UK Smart Grants: October 2019
Opportunity to apply for a share of up to £25 million to deliver ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations that can make a significant impact on the UK economy. Smart is the new name for Innovate UK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £25 million in the best game-changing and commercially viable innovative or disruptive ideas. All proposals must be business focused.
Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy, such as but not exclusively: the arts, design and media; creative industries; and science or engineering. Whilst we welcome projects that overlap with the grand challenge areas this is not a requirement, as we are also keen to support projects in other areas. All SMEs involved in funded projects will also be offered business growth support from the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). We may share application details with other public sector co-funders if this is appropriate.
We may consider eligible project costs over £2 million (but not exceeding £3 million), subject to the process set out under ‘Eligibility’.
Opened: 17 October 2019
Closes: 8 January 2020
To find out more click here
Agri-tech catalyst round 9: agriculture and food systems innovation, late stage
UK organisations can apply for a share of up to £5 million to work on agri-tech and food chain innovations in Africa. Up to £5 million of funding is available from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). This is for projects working on agri-tech and food chain innovations with partners in eligible African countries. We are running 3 strands to this competition at the same time. It is your responsibility to make sure you are applying for the correct strand. The aim of this competition is to increase the pace of innovation in the development of agricultural and food systems in Africa. Your project must result in more use of innovations by farmers and food systems organisations such as manufacturers, processors, retailers, distributors and wholesalers.
Opened: 14 October 2019
Closes: 8 January 2020
To find out more click here
Agri-tech catalyst round 9: agriculture and food systems innovation, mid stage
UK organisations can apply for a share of up to £5 million to work on agri-tech and food chain innovations in Africa.
Opened: 14 October 2019
Closes: 8 January 2020
To find out more click here
Agri-tech catalyst round 9: agriculture and food systems innovation, early stage
UK organisations can apply for a share of up to £5 million to work on agri-tech and food chain innovations in Africa. Up to £5 million of funding is available from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). This is for projects working on agri-tech and food chain innovations with partners in eligible African countries.
We are running 3 strands to this competition at the same time. It is your responsibility to make sure you are applying for the correct strand. The aim of this competition is to increase the pace of innovation in the development of agricultural and food systems in Africa. Your project must result in more use of innovations by farmers and food systems organisations such as manufacturers, processors, retailers, distributors and wholesalers.
Opened: 14 October 2019
Closes: 8 January 2020
To find out more click here
Application of whole genome sequencing approaches to cancer
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £5.4 million. This is for innovation projects that use whole genome sequencing to analyse cancers. This competition is funded through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The aim is to encourage the development of new approaches to targeted therapy based on the molecular signatures of cancers. Your project can develop new analytical methods or validate new targets using new and existing genomic data from cancers. We will fund feasibility studies, industrial research and experimental development.
Opened: 7 October 2019
Closes: 22 January 2020
To find out more click here
SME support to evaluate innovative medical technologies: round 5
UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of £1.5 million to support the evaluation of innovative medical devices, diagnostics and regulated digital health products. The Office for Life Sciences (OLS) will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £1.5 million in innovation projects. These will support developers of innovative medical devices, diagnostics and regulated digital technology to evaluate their product in a real world clinical setting. All projects must be led by a UK based SME. You can choose from 2 options: planning and preparation for a study, for which total eligible project costs can be up to £100,000, and a study to collect clinical performance and cost-effectiveness data, for which total project costs can be up to £500,000.
This competition provides support for SMEs to develop an evidence base for products that address NHS priorities. Our support will allow companies to collect and analyse clinical performance and cost effectiveness data in an NHS setting.
Applications are highly encouraged from SMEs from across all regions of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Opened: 30 September 2019
Closes: 11 December 2019
To find out more click here
HSBC UK Announces £14 Billion Loan Fund for UK SMEs
HSBC UK has announced a £14 billion lending fund to support the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The bank’s dedicated SME Fund has increased by £2 billion, following a £12 billion package of support in 2018. The increase in funding this year reflects HSBC’s commitment to supporting businesses through economic uncertainty. Since launching the SME Loan Fund in 2014, HSBC has committed more than £60 billion to UK SMEs to help businesses innovate, evolve and grow.
Ensuring the Fund remains UK-wide in its support of ambitious companies, it will be split and allocated to specific regions across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
For those companies exploring opportunities overseas, a ring-fenced pot for international businesses, which forms part of the overall offer, has been doubled to £2 billion this year.
The initiative is available to UK businesses with a turnover of up to £350 million. Applicants do not need to be an HSBC customer to apply.
Applications can be made at any time.
To find out more click here
Funding for more customs experts announced
The Treasury and HMRC have announced funding of £16 million to help more businesses become customs experts. The funding will be used to help exporters and importers train staff to enable them to make customs declarations, and for smaller businesses who act as customs intermediaries to invest in IT. Funding applications will close on 31 January 2020, or earlier if all the funding is allocated.
To find out more click here
Gigabit Voucher
Gigabit vouchers can be used by small businesses and the local communities surrounding them to contribute to the installation cost of a gigabit-capable connection. Businesses can claim up to £2,500 against the cost of connection either individually or as part of a group project. Residents can benefit from the scheme with a voucher worth £500 as part of a group project.
Closing date - ongoing
To find out more click here
Interreg VA France
The France (Channel) England Programme has five Specific Objectives. If your project idea falls under one of these objectives and is in the eligible region, then please contact us with your idea to see if we can help. Objectives are : Innovation, Social Innovation, Low Carbon Technologies, Natural and Cultural Heritage, Coastal and Transitional Water Ecosystems.
Closing date - ongoing
To find out more click here
CITB Grants
Apply for a grant or project funding, and learn how CITB supports training for the construction industry.
Closing date - ongoing
To find out more click here
Forward Enterprise Fund
The fund offers a combination of different type of support, depending on the needs of your enterprise. If successful the Forward Enterprise Fund will work with you to design a package of support to help your organisation develop and grow. Support could include a mix of:
- Business Support : Pre-investment business support gives you the chance to work with specialist advisers to grow your business and become investment-ready.
- Crowdfunder Support: You can get support to set up a crowdfunding campaign through Crowdfunder to raise capital for your business.
- Loans: You can access loans to assist your business in its development.
Closing date - ongoing
To find out more click here
The Start-up Series: £150,000 of Equity Investment Funding
We aim to pick one business every month to receive investment from an EIS & SEIS fund.
Startups.co.uk are in partnership with experienced investment promoters Worth Capital. The series throws the doors wide open for companies to submit their applications from the 1st to the 14th of every month. From an initial simple application, businesses will be assessed through multiple stages and winners will be offered investment at a fair valuation in exchange for an equity stake in their business (subject to due diligence carried out by the Fund Manager).
Ongoing competition
To find out more click here
Goldman Sachs - 10, 000 Small Business Programme
'Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses' is an investment to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital and business support services. '10,000 Small Businesses' is funded by Goldman Sachs and the Goldman Sachs Foundation.
Closing date - Ongoing
To find out more click here
The Creative Enterprise New Ideas Fund
The Creative Enterprise New Ideas Fund is a programme designed to help screen-based businesses move away from working project-to-project and develop more sustainable businesses.
Through the Fund, Creative England is able to offer small seed funding to sole traders, start-ups and small firms for their creative business ideas. The programme aims to support untapped talent and allow talented people to find finance for their ideas. Investments of between £500 and £15,000 are available for emerging and new screen-based storytelling business proposals, including new business ideas, business proposals and business costs.
Date: Applications accepted on a rolling basis
To find out more click here
Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS)
Though not strictly a grant funding, we felt SEIS was very relevant to add to this list. SEIS is a tax relief designed to encourage investors to invest in UK companies. In essence, investors can claim eligible investment against their tax bill, significantly reducing capital risk. Many professional investors and business angels now require SEIS at Angel Stage before they even look at a company. You can apply for SEIS status with HMRC.
Funding: The relief allows investors to claim back up to 78% of their investment through tax in the first year (up to £150K, as of Jan 1st, 2014). Once companies are approved for SEIS status, there’s a process you must go through with HMRC to claim on behalf of your investor.
Closing date - ongoing
To find out more click here
R&D Tax Credits
The research and development tax credits scheme allows you to claim back a significant amount of your development costs back in cash each year! If you are a startup heavily focused on development, then this scheme is well worth checking out. The paperwork itself is not too complicated to fill in; there are also a few expert agencies about who can help you with filling it out for a price. You can find guides, more information and how to apply here.
Funding: You can claim back up to 32% in development costs each year; this even includes staff/contractor costs
Closing date - ongoing
To find out more click here
£100m Initiative to Help UK Firms Capitalise on Offshore Wind Market
The UK is said to be well suited to exploiting wind power, with turbines having been erected in over 30 locations. However, it is widely accepted that the sector has produced too few jobs. By 2030, the offshore wind power market is expected to be worth £30 billion per year, with the UK generating a third of its electricity from wind.
The Offshore Wind Growth Partnership (OWGP) is a £100 million initiative designed to help UK businesses maximise opportunities in the global offshore wind supply chain market.
Activities will initially focus on helping supply chain companies with strategy and leadership, project management, people excellence, process excellence, health and safety culture, and quality management. It will also work with the offshore wind developers to provide greater long-term visibility of project pipelines that will help supply chain companies to plan and, if necessary, to invest in new capability or capacity.
To find out more click here
Horizon 2020: what it is and how to apply for funding
Horizon 2020 is the largest ever European funding programme for research and innovation. It has a budget of 79 billion euros and will run until 2020.
It aims to: ensure that Europe produces world-class science, remove barriers to innovation and make it easier for public and private sectors to innovate together.
This guidance is designed to help people in the UK understand and access the funding opportunities available, in order to innovate and grow both in the UK and abroad.
What is Horizon 2020?
The Horizon 2020 programme was established by the European Union (EU) as a collaborative financial instrument that would help secure Europe’s global competitiveness in research and innovation. The programme – running from 2014 to 2020 – is seen as a means of putting Europe at the heart of world-class science and innovation, making it more competitive, creating economic growth and new jobs. It offers an open, simple structure for accessing funding in order to remove barriers to collaborative innovation, get new projects off the ground quickly and achieve results faster. Funding calls are based on 3 areas: excellent science, industrial leadership and societal challenges.
To find out more click here
Backing Youth Ambition - New Support for the UK’s Young Entrepreneurs
Almost two thirds of young people have, or would consider, starting their own business but many say a lack of funding and experience is putting them off, according to research commissioned by The Prince’s Trust and Lloyds Development Capital (LDC). Following the publication of this research, the two organisations have come together to launch Backing Youth Ambition, an initiative designed to support youth enterprise across the UK. The three-year programme aims to help over 1,200 young people explore and launch their own businesses through start-up grants and additional funding for The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme. LDC is also providing support through fundraising, volunteering and mentoring activity across its regional offices, employees and investee companies. Young entrepreneurs from across the UK may be eligible for support through the programme.
Applications can be submitted at any time.
To find out more click here
Launch of £3m Fund for Businesses Redistributing Surplus Food
The FareShare Surplus with Purpose Fund is aimed at offsetting the costs faced by food producing companies seeking to redistribute their edible surplus comestibles to charities and community groups helping vulnerable people.The programme has an overall budget of £3 million. Businesses could be eligible for up to £50,000 worth of funding. Greater sums can be negotiated, where appropriate, for high volumes of surplus food.
The money can be used to cover the additional staff costs needed for packing and sorting edible surplus food, or in building, implementing and managing new processes. It could also cover packaging and transportation costs, or lost income from the sale of surplus to animal feed or anaerobic digestion. Food production businesses in the UK that are seeking to redistribute additional surplus food items may qualify for support.
Applications may be submitted at any time. Interested parties are asked to complete a form on the funder’s website. They may also email foodoffers@Fareshare.org.uk or call the funder on 020 7064 8911 to discuss participation in the programme.
To find out more click here
CELTIC-NEXT autumn 2019: innovative 5G infrastructure and applications
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is to invest up to £2 million from the CELTIC programme, which is part of the EUREKA Network. This will be in collaborative R&D projects.
The aim of this competition is to encourage the development of 5G in an international collaborative environment by helping UK organisations take part in the CELTIC programme.
We are looking for proposals that develop: innovative 5G infrastructure technologies that make use of artificial intelligence (AI) in network operation or multi-access edge computing (MEC), applications and services that use 5G networks to offer new or improved user experiences, and 5G features in satellite networks or 5G applications and services that use satellites
Applications and services must focus on one or more of these use cases: the Internet of Things (IoT), the tactile internet, mission critical applications, infotainment and/or immersive technologies.
The competition closes at midday 12pm UK time on the deadline stated. Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £400,000 and £2.5 million.
Opened: 14 October 2019
Closes: 11 December 2019
To find out more click here
ISCF Future food production systems
Up to £20 million of grant funding is available for projects that disrupt the traditional land-based models of food production.
Projects must create integrated, data-driven solutions to drive agricultural productivity as well as target net zero emissions. We will consider a broad range of technologies and systems.
Your project must aim to determine the transformation of future food production systems. It must be ambitious, multidisciplinary and systems-focused rather than dedicated to developing a single technology. We are particularly looking to support large-scale, ambitious projects.
Your project’s total eligible costs must be greater than £1 million but less than £10 million.
Opened: Tuesday 17 September 2019
Closes: Wednesday 22 January 2020
To find out more click here
The Future Leaders Fellowships can help fund your most talented innovators
Future Leaders Fellowships allow early career researchers and innovators from eligible UK businesses to develop their leadership potential through challenging innovation or research projects. Funding of up to £1.2 million over a four year period, but with considerable flexibility available. Funding will be provided in line with prevailing state aid guidelines.The ability to attract in individual, or develop an existing employee, who will help create innovative solutions for their business. This could include bringing the most talented international innovators to work in their business in the UK.A new Reduced Hours Fellowship, in which fellows are able to spend up to 40 percent of their time focused on other activities within the business in order to enhance their career.The option to collaborate with other organisations (business, academic, public and third sector).
Our process requires registration to receive further information and bid writing support, so it is important that you register now to be able to apply later.
Business Basics 3: SME technology use (business led trials EoI)
Organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million to run trials in England to test ways to encourage SMEs to adopt existing productivity-boosting technologies. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £2 million in projects.
In this competition we will fund trials which test different approaches to encouraging SMEs to adopt existing technologies. These must support business and administrative functions, such as payment practices, accountancy and human resources. This first phase is for expressions of interest (EoI). EoI submissions will be assessed by a panel consisting of BEIS, the Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) based at Nesta, and Innovate UK. If your EoI is successful, you will be invited to submit an application for the full phase.
Closes: Wednesday 4 December 2019
To find out more click here
NatWest - Helping Women turn their ideas into reality
We want to support more women to start businesses, so we've teamed up with Crowdfunder to help you get started. Together we'll help you raise money for your business through crowdfunding, and we'll also provide free coaching, mentoring and opportunities to meet like minded women. What’s more we’re also offering up to 50% of your fundraising target (max. £5,000) in grant funding for certain successful projects.
You can read more about how this works in our eligibility criteria. UK residents with new UK projects can apply. Eligibility (including type of project), and specific criteria apply. Fees apply, see the help centre for more details.
Deadline: Ongoing
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EMFF Blue Economy Window Call Open to Applications
Grants supported under the Blue Economy Window Call for Proposals 2019 will address the challenge of developing and bringing to market new products, services, and business models for SMEs that could ultimately create profitable activities. This will be part of a new comprehensive service package offered by the ‘BlueInvest platform’ that supports investment readiness and access to finance for early-stage businesses, SMEs and scale-ups in the blue economy. These grants will support projects that accelerate innovation in the blue economy, demonstrate high potential in terms of company competitiveness and growth underpinned by a strategic business plan and which aim to create and maintain high quality jobs in the blue economy. Projects need to involve in particular the sustainable use of marine resources for innovative and/or circular economic activities and contribute to healthy oceans and Europe’s ‘Green Deal’. They may include deploying, demonstrating, or scaling-up new solutions for the blue economy including technologies, service applications. Applicants must be for-profit SMEs legally established in EU Member States.
Applications can be submitted by a consortium of partners or a single applicant. The consortium coordinator or the single applicant submitting the application must be established in an EU Member State.
The total budget for the call is €22.5 million.
The deadline for applications is 27 February 2019.
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