Innovation Funding for Manufacturers
Make UK’ s innovation funding partner ABGI UK, has provided us with a summary of available tax incentives, grants and subsidies, to help you find the right innovation funding solution for your business.
05 August 2020
There is a huge range of R&D tax incentives, grants and subsidies available to UK businesses, to help them accelerate innovation and business expansion. As a result, it can be tricky selecting the best option for your business.
Make UK’ s innovation funding partner ABGI UK, has provided us with a summary of available tax incentives, grants and subsidies, to help you find the right innovation funding solution for your business.
Sanday Findlay is ABGI’s key contact for the manufacturing sector in the UK. Sandy has 21 years' consulting experience in business strategy, marketing and international business. If you have any questions regarding any of the funding sources mentioned on this page, or require any further information, please email sandy.findlay@abgi-uk.com or call him on 07807 739 033.
R&D Tax Credits
If your company carries out R&D on its products, processes or services, you may be able to take advantage of the UK Government’s R&D tax credit scheme. The scheme allows companies to claim tax relief on the money invested in qualifying R&D.
For profitable companies claiming under the SME scheme this could be up to 24.7% additional tax relief on qualifying expenditure. While loss making SMEs can surrender their losses and receive up to 33% cash payment.
Companies claiming under the RDEC scheme can receive up to 9.7% net benefit.
Patent Box
If your company has exclusive licences to third party patents, and has undertaken qualifying development, you can also benefit from the reduced corporation tax rate
Capital allowances
Capital Allowances provides generous tax relief against investment in assets, such as property, fixtures and fittings, plant and equipment and business vehicles. While the benefits are very generous, capital allowances are one of the most complex areas of tax legislation in the UK and it is believed more than 50% of UK businesses are not taking advantage of the tax relief available to them.
Grant Funding
Manufacturing Made Smarter, feasibility studies
UK registered businesses can apply for funding towards feasibility studies into digital technologies to transform supply chains in UK manufacturing.
Your project should research problems being experienced by UK supply chains and develop innovative digital solutions, focussing either on supply chain design or supply chain execution, comprising any one of the following:
- improve and optimise existing supply chain networks
- re-design or re-engineer existing supply chain networks
- design new supply chain networks both for new products and processes
You could qualify for a 50% grant of between £125,000 and £250,000
To lead a project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise
Applications close 7th October 2020
Manufacturing Made Smarter, industrial research
Your project must investigate one or more problems that your specific supply chain is experiencing and develop and test digital solutions to these problems.
To lead a project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise
Applications close 7th October 2020
The Sustainable Innovation Fund: round 2
UK registered businesses can apply for grant funding to support projects aimed at helping all sectors of the UK recover, grow, and create new opportunities from the aftermath of the global health pandemic.
Proposals must show evidence of key challenges as a direct consequence of COVID-19, and how the project can help solve these challenges.
Your project can also focus on:
- decarbonisation, circular economy and/or biodiversity
- climate change and environmental sustainability
- geographic or regionally targeted innovation
- innovation that is aimed at commercial or residential users
- innovations that work across more than one sector
- follow-on international opportunities that help the UK lead the world
Project costs should be between £50,000 - £100,000
Applications close 2nd September 2020
IETF Deployment of energy efficiency technologies in industry
Example technologies include:
- improved process control
- more efficient heat exchange
- more efficient drying
- energy recovery from waste heat
- energy recovery from waste pressure
- resource process optimisation
The minimum grant which can be applied for under this competition is £250,000
The current call for proposals closes 28th October 2020
Article originally published on MakeUK
