£2 million investment to help small businesses grow

Grants from Innovate UK are available to help SMEs adopt proven technologies, become more productive and successful.

There are different competitions to apply into, depending on your organisation and the type of research and development being carried out. These are for:

• proof of concept projects; OR
• trials that are either led by a business or led by another type of organisation that isn’t a business

Funding is part of the government’s Business Basics Programme, which aims to improve the productivity of SMEs by encouraging them to adopt proven technologies and practices.

Competition details:

• Up to £60,000 is available to each successful applicant
• Projects must start by September 1st 2019

Deadline for applications is midday on April 17th 2019. More details on the funding can be found here >

There is a webinar briefing on March 7th 2019 for applicants to find out more about the competition, and an online evaluation masterclass on March 5th 2019 to help assess and analyse the results of a project.

Funding for R&D innovations

Opportunity to apply for a share of up to £20 million to deliver ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations with significant potential for impact on the UK economy.

All proposals must be business focused, rather than pure research. Applications can come from any area of technology (including arts, design, media or creative industries), science or engineering and be applied to any part of the economy.

The deadline for applications is April 24th 2019. Find out more and apply here >

This funding is part of the new Innovate UK Smart grants scheme. Smart is the new name for Innovate UK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme.

To apply your business needs either:

• an idea for a completely new product, service or process
• a brand-new use or an unprecedented use for an existing product, service or process that take it above and beyond what’s currently available

Read more about Smart grants here >

Support for development of 5G, LPWAN & IoT technologies

Digital Catapult has launched the UK’s newest dedicated facility for leading edge network technologies: the Future Networks Lab.

The Future Networks Lab has been created to support the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), LPWAN and 5G technologies. It provides a place for start-ups, corporations and network platform providers to collaborate through access to technical expertise, innovation support and advanced digital infrastructure facilities.

Digital Catapult and its partners will use the Future Networks Lab to demonstrate the practical application of their own Internet of Things solutions and products, showcasing how organisations of all sizes can fully exploit the potential of these technologies at scale. 

Read more about the Future Networks Lab here >

Cyber Security Academic Start-up Accelerator Programme

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to invest up to £800,000 in innovative cyber security ideas coming from the academic research base.

The aim of the Cyber Security Academic Start-up Accelerator Programme is to identify the best commercial opportunities in academia in respect to cyber security.

The final deadline for applications is midday on March 6th 2019. Find more information on the Innovate UK website, and further information on the Knowledge Transfer Network website.

Search for more funding

Visit the 'Funding and Finance' section of our website for more ideas on getting the funding your business needs.