Kickstart your innovation plans with the next round of Smart Grants

By Joe Matusiak, Grants Manager at ABGI-UK

With the continuing challenges presented by COVID-19 and the new ones brought about by Brexit, many R&D programmes have had to be postponed. If you are looking to kickstart your innovation plans for 2021, then grant funding could be the answer for your business.

Innovate UK Smart grants are open to all industries, all sector and all technology types and the next round in May 2021 could help re-align your R&D programme. With over three months until the deadline (26th May 2021) now is the perfect time to contact ABGI to see if you can secure a share of the funding.

Do I qualify?

Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy. Some example of successfully funded projects include:

The Arts, Design and Media:

• a data-driven inventory forecasting software project;
• a brand management platform for a circular economy within children's clothing.

Creative Industries:

• a live vocal recognition project for music making on mobile devices;
• a project involving 3D Capture with Measured Material Acquisition for feature films, television and video games

Science or Engineering:

• A state-of-the-art, thermally insulated hub for meals to be delivered to, in high density areas such as hospitals, offices, and apartments;
• Novel nanodrugs for pancreatic cancer treatment;
• Electric vehicle battery manufacturing with Novel Multi-Material 3D Printer.

Open to all technology and industry types, Innovate UK will fund novel and game-changing ideas that will disrupt or create new markets. You must be an SME (250 employees or less) or if you're classed as a Large Company, include an independent SME as part of your project application.

How long and how much?

Single application: Project duration can range between 6 and 18 months and total eligible project costs between £25,000 and £500,000.

Collaborative: Project durations between 19 and 36 months must have total eligible project costs between £25,000 and £2million.

Why should I partner with ABGI?

We provide you with an end-to-end grants consultancy service, which includes writing and submitting grant applications, advising on the potential eligibility of your projects and supporting you in the development of appropriately costed project plans.

Our five-step approach ensure your application is ready for the deadline and makes a strong business case:

1. Launch and establishing projects:
   • We work with you to establish your portfolio of projects and understand the timings, costs and objectives of each of those projects.
2. Grant Project Scoping:
   • We scope the grant funding authorities to match make your proposed projects to the competitions likely to yield the strongest chance of success.
3. Grant Application Development:
   • Kick off meeting is held to develop technical response of the application;
   • Research conducted to develop business case/impacts and market responses;
   • Regular reviews and re-drafts to develop responses
4. Submission of Applications:
   • We upload the application to respective grants portal;
   • This includes any partners/consortium involved where possible;
   • we resubmit applications covered in the event of an unsuccessful bid
5. Post-Award Compliance and Grant Management:
   • We support you through the project setup stage and of progress and technical reports during project.

With the deadline for the next round of Smart Grant Funding fast approaching, now is the time to get in touch with ABGI to see if your business could benefit from looking further into innovation grants.

ABGI is a global consultancy with over 30 years' experience helping some of the world's best-known brands accelerate innovation and business expansion by capitalising on their R&D activities, in compliance with all rules and regulations.

For more details on how we could help you leverage valuable funding back into your business through Grant Funding, contact Joe Matusiak, Grant Funding Manager on Joe.matusiak@abgi-uk.com or call 07794201990.