Innovate UK Smart grants: November 2024

Overview

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £15 million in the best game changing and world leading ideas, designed for swift, successful commercialisation.

Innovate UK’s Smart grants programme is intrinsically positioned, by design, as a focused and uniquely differentiated product to support and propel the government’s five key missions:

• driving economic growth
• advancing clean energy
• enhancing public safety
• expanding opportunities
• strengthening healthcare

Your proposal

The Innovate UK Smart grant supports micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their partners to develop the best game changing and world leading innovative R&D projects. It offers funding where other opportunities are not available or appropriate, and where timing is key to ensure swift and successful commercialisation, post project completion.

To be in scope your proposal must demonstrate:

• a ground breaking and innovative idea for brand new products, processes or services
• an idea that is significantly different from already available products, processes or services globally
• an idea that is set for rapid commercialisation following project completion
• clear potential to positively impact the UK’s position, productivity and competitiveness within the global economy
• a clear, evidence-based business plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
• why Smart funding is the right potential funding for your project, and the journey you have already been on to reach the point of application
• a team with the necessary skills and expertise to deliver the project successfully and on time, and to achieve rapid commercialisation
• awareness of all the main risks the project will face with realistic management, mitigation and impact minimisation plans for each risk
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines that represent good value for money, including the funding of post-project activities

Specific themes

Your project must focus on:

• taking customer and user needs into account to deliver more desirable and useful solutions
• identifying who is ready to buy your innovation
• being developed, planned and resourced beyond the end of the Innovate UK funded project, taking into account the focus of any project partners and their existing commitments
• fitting in with and complementing your ongoing business planning and development, product offerings and organisational structure to maximise chances of success

Project size

Projects of 6 to 18 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000 and can be single or collaborative. Projects of 19 to 24 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £1 million and be collaborative.

Who can apply

Your project must:

• start by 1 July 2025
• end by 30 June 2027
• include at least one micro, small or medium enterprise (SME) as the lead or a collaborative grant claiming partner
• follow specific rules depending on its duration
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

If your project’s duration is 6 to 18 months, it must:

• have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000
• be single or collaborative

If your project’s duration is 19 to 24 months, it must:

• have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £1 million
• be collaborative

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See eligible project costs.

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:

• be a UK registered SME if you want to work alone
• be a UK registered business of any size, or a research and technology organisation (RTO) if your proposal is collaborative
• include at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) if you are a large business or RTO and wish to collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, academic organisations, public sector organisations or charities
• claim grant funding

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

See guidance for further requirements.

Funding

Up to £15 million is available to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits set out in the guidance.

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 25% if you are a large organisation

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

See guidance for further requirements.

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 30% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

• 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic
• 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation