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Most likely yes!!!

There is now a huge variety of R&I grant funding catering for most types of organisations. At a very top-level, the R&I grant funding landscape can be understood to fall into two main categories:

1) Academic research: targeting the discovery and application of new science. Eligibility is primarily restricted to academic researchers (universities) and organisations capable of undertaking academic quality work. Whilst other organisational types can often participate, they are normally not eligible for funding. Academic grant funding (within the UK) is primarily distributed via the various research councils and charities.

2) Industrial/business research: targeting the development of new technologies, product, processes, and services. These programmes are targeted at industry/businesses (startups, SMEs, large enterprises), but normally permit funded participation from most organisation types, such as research centres, universities, not-for-profits and charities, associations and grouping etc. Some programmes focus on specific organisation types, such as SME companies. 

Many large enterprises have the belief that they are not eligible for grant funding. This is not true. Large enterprises are vital to the competitiveness of UK industry and play an important role in facilitating innovation across SMEs and academia. Their participation is strongly encouraged and usually supported with grant funding.

Research and innovation grant funding has transformative potential for many organisations, especially technology-based startups and SME industries. It not only supports on-going development projects, increasing the chances of innovation success, but also enables organisations to think bigger, beyond incremental developments, towards truly disruptive and breakthrough innovations.

Grant funding can be used to:

• fund shortfalls in core financing or unforeseen development needs,
• extend development activities to next-generation products or adjacent markets,
• expand the organisation’s science and technology base, capabilities, and resources,
• build development and value-chain partnerships,
• raise innovation ambition and accelerate development, 
• de-risk the innovation to other sources of funding, such as loan, equity, or corporate finance.

Governments are increasingly understanding the value of grant funding, both to individual companies and the economy, which has led to a continuous rise in research and innovation grant funding over the last decade – representing an important financing opportunity. And the benefit of grant funding is that it does not dilute equity and does not need to be repaid. 

However, it’s not just about the money. The grant writing process can also be leveraged to add value to the organisation:

• deadlines provide a ‘point focus’ to drive team engagement, alignment, and activity (sprint mentality for rapid progress),
• collaborative working with project partners builds team spirit, knowledge exchange, and long-term partnerships,
• proposal writing necessitates documentation, critique, and development of the innovation and business concept, strategic business choices, and long-term planning, and
• exposure of the innovation and project to customers, partners, and evaluators supports third-party validation.

These all support advancement of the innovation and business, reinforcing long-term innovation success and access to other sources of finance, such as equity, loan, and corporate financing.

What’s in it for government? Why does government give away public funds for research and innovation? 

It’s actually an investment? Grant funding plays a critical role in stimulating high-risk disruptive and breakthrough innovation, leading to:

• improvements in UK industrial competitiveness,
• international leadership in key technological areas,
• economic growth,
• creation of employment and skills,
• mitigation or resolution of key societal challenges. 

Grant funding is key to de-risking innovation and stimulating private investment. Without grant funding, many scientific discoveries and innovations simply wouldn’t happen in the UK and risk being lost to competitors. 

Grant funding is an investment by government that delivers significant economic and societal returns. 

Grant funding is delivered through funding ‘programmes’. Each programme has a defined set of objectives and budget. A funding programme achieves its objectives by supporting projects that align with its goals. Organisations apply for funding by submitting a proposal in response to a funding ‘call’ released by the funding programme. Each call has a defined:

• scope – describing the call objectives, target activities and impacts, and constraints,
• eligibility criteria – who can participate, minimum and maximum project cost and duration, reimbursement rates etc.,
• budget – available to fund proposals within the call, 
• application and evaluation processes – including proposal templates, guidelines, and evaluation criteria, and
• contracting and implementation rules – including a model grant agreement (contract).

All information and support required to make an application is available via the call. To stand a good chance of success, it is essential that a proposal fully aligns with the goals and requirements of the funding call (and programme). 

The grant funding landscape is rich and diverse. Here we primarily consider industrial research and innovation (R&I) funding for technology companies pursuing novel products, processes, or services.

Grant funding is generally split between:

• Blue Skies Research (TRL1-3) – focused on fundamental science and its translation to proof-of-concept technologies,
• Early-Stage Research (TRL3-6) – focused on the transition from proof-of-concept technologies to demonstrated technology prototypes,
• Late-Stage Research (TRL7-9) – focused on further development of technology prototypes to verified market ready product systems. 

Blue Skies research is primarily the domain of academic researchers who apply for grant funding via the various Research Councils (and charitable trusts). These programmes are not considered here.

Industrial R&I funding focuses on early- and late- stage research. In general, late-stage research has a lower reimbursement (funding) rate than early-stage research, as it is closer to market and less risky.

Within recent years the grant funding landscape has evolved to also include equity and loan funding:

• Equity Funding – grant funding agencies are increasingly partnering with venture capital firms and angel investment groups to launch combined programmes. Here grant funding is provided either as a pre-curser to, or in combination with, equity investment. The intention of grant funding is to de-risk and incentivise equity investment. There is a particular focus on innovations that are less attractive to traditional equity, such as those with high market risk, limited market potential (but high societal impact), or those that require patient capital (requiring an extended investment period).
• Loan Funding – specifically targeting those projects that fall outside the scope of traditional loan financing, such as pre-revenue, high-risk, technology start-ups. 

Funding calls have either an open (bottom-up) or thematic (top-down) scope:

• open calls allow projects from any technology or market sector (with a few exceptions). These calls are ideal for technology-based organisations (and start-ups) as they place few constraints of the innovation being pursued. 
• thematic calls have a defined market or technological scope (challenge) that projects must fall within (e.g. AI technologies for the financial sector). These calls place restrictions on the innovation being pursued and are only suitable if they align with the organisation’s innovation strategy and roadmap.

Funding calls may be ‘one-offs’ or recur periodically. Recuring calls are favoured as they maximise the potential for resubmission of unsuccessful proposals. 

In short, the answer is YES, but with some exceptions! At the time of writing, the UK has just agreed access to the Horizon Europe programme.

Whilst there are a few areas of the programme that we are no longer eligible to participate in, the vast majority of the programme remains open to the UK.

Grant funding is available at a regional, national, and international level.

A good place to start at a regional level is your local Growth Hub. There is a network of 38 regional Growth Hubs in the UK who provide advice and support to companies within their regions. You can find out about your local Growth Hub here.

National R&I funding is primary distributed via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). InnovateUK are the department with UKRI responsible for Industrial/Business grant funding. Grant funding is promoted via their Innovation Competitions page.

At a European level, R&I grant funding is primarily distributed via the European Commission Horizon Europe programme. Specific funding calls can be searched via the EU Funding & Tenders portal.

A more detailed summary of available opportunities is available via our article ‘What grant funding opportunities are available?’.

Whilst there can be quite significant differences between grant funding programmes, most seek to support projects that:

• address a need of importance to a target customer group,
• that existing and emerging solutions are unable to adequately satisfy,
• through development of a breakthrough or disruptive solution,
• enabled by novel science or technology,
• has an element of development or commercial risk, 
• has global market potential,
• delivers strategic societal impacts, 
• has a defined go-to-market strategy,
• has protection of IP, and
• is led by a team with the necessary skills, experience, and track-record for technical and commercial success.

In summary, grant funding is usually targeted towards high-risk breakthrough and disruptive innovations, rather than incremental or ‘me too’ developments.

See our article ‘Is my innovation project right for grant funding?’.

Eligible project costs vary between funding programmes and are defined by the funding call. Generally, most directly incurred research and development costs are considered eligible, such as:

• direct labour costs, 
• corporate overhead costs (often at a fixed % of labour or direct costs),
• material and consumable costs,
• software licences,
• depreciation on equipment,
• subcontracting,
• IP protection,
• dissemination and communication of results. 

Exclusions primarily focus on commercial activities (sales and marketing), mark-ups for profit, dividends and bonuses etc.

Just like building a house, innovation proceeds through development phases. We only proceed to the next phase once the previous phase has been completed and we have a plan in place for what we are doing next. For example, just like we wouldn’t start to build the walls of a house without first knowing the foundations are ready and having figured out our architectural plan; we wouldn’t start to build a technology prototype without demonstrating proof of concept and having figured out a clear development plan. 

Grant funders understand this and only seek to fund innovations that can:

• evidence attainment of the ‘necessary milestones’ appropriate to the development stage, and 
• provide a clear innovation roadmap and project plan.

See our article ‘Is my innovation project ready for grant funding?’

This varies greatly between funding programmes, ranging from <£50K to >£10M.

As a general rule:

• Regional funding tends to be smaller in nature (<£50K) and often focused on practical / less research-intensive interventions to improve business growth, productivity, efficiency etc.
• National projects typically vary between ~£50K and ~£3M, and usually focus on a specific breakthrough or disruptive innovation. Projects may or may not be collaborative.
• European projects are usually large in size (£2.5M - £10M+), collaborative in nature, and often focus on long-term breakthroughs and disruption. 

This depends greatly on the funding programme. 

Most programmes require an element of cofinancing. This means that they will only fund a % of the costs, requiring you to fund the balance directly.

Other factors influencing the funding rate include the:

• nature of the development work, with earlier-stage higher-risk projects usually attracting a higher funding rate than later stage lower risk projects; and 
• organisational type, with some organisations, such as SMEs, not-for-profit, universities, and charities, receiving a higher funding rate.

No… but it does come with a few strings attached: 

• each funding programme has its own eligibility criteria – only certain types of organisations, projects, or costs may be eligible.
• it typically only covers a proportion of the costs – this means that you will need to co-finance the project with your own money.
• it’s a competitive process – you might invest time and effort making an application only to receive a rejection letter.
• there are rules that must be followed – in terms of how the project is run, administrated, and reported. 

So no, whilst the grant doesn’t need to be repaid, there is a cost in making an application, uncertainty of success, and an additional administrative burden associated with the project’s delivery.

This varies from programme to programme? For most UK funding programmes, you receive funding in arrears. This means that you need to spend the money first and then claim it back, normally on a quarterly basis. This requires you to have sufficient cashflow to support the project between reporting periods and cover the required in-kind cost (difference between incurred cost and grant reimbursement).

Some funding programmes, such as the EC Horizon Europe programme, seek to mitigate this financial burden by providing a pre-finance payment. A pre-finance payment is a proportion of the funding given upfront to provide cashflow to undertake the project. This is best viewed as a loan until sufficient eligible costs have been incurred to convert it into a grant.

Proposals are typically submitted via an online portal by a defined deadline. Proposals usually comprise some combination of an innovation concept, business case, workplan, and financial costing. 

Once submitted, proposals are typically evaluated by 3 or more expert assessors. Assessors must sign agreements of confidentiality and non-competitiveness (i.e. that they are not a direct competitor of your business). Each assessor evaluates the proposal independently and awards scores following a marking scheme. Proposals are then usually past through some kind of committee to ensure consistency and fairness in the evaluations and scoring. Scores are averaged to provide a final score. 

The application process may follow a one, two, or three step process, combining either or all of, a short proposal (or expression of interest), full proposal, and panel interview.

Once final proposal scores are agreed, the proposals are ranked in order of score, from highest to lowest. Sometimes programme managers reserve the right to promote proposals higher up the list to meet strategic interests (e.g. areas for which there are currently few existing projects). Proposals are then funded from the top down until the call budget has been fully assigned. Typically, the call will define a minimum required score to be eligible for funding; however, this clause is rarely implemented as there are usually many more proposals above this threshold than budget to fund them.

Proposals selected for funding are then invited to complete a grant agreement. This typically involves:

• provision of further administrative and legal information, 
• clarifications or amendments to the innovation concept, business case, work plan, or financial costings, depending on assessor feedback, 
• preparation of a consortium agreement for collaborative projects,
• accession to the grant agreement terms and conditions.

Once a grant agreement is signed by the project partner(s) and the grant funding agency, it comes into force with the agreed start date, typically either a specific date defined at the application or grant agreement stage, or the 1st day of the month following signature of the grant agreement. 

This varies from programme to programme; however, the key elements of most applications are:

• the innovation concept (need vs solution),
• scientific and technological advancement,
• business case and market analysis,
• exploitation plan / go-to-market strategy, 
• IP assessment,
• objectives and work programme,
• project costings, 
• team CVs,
• administrative data.

Grant funding is highly competitive. To stand a good chance of success, it is imperative that our project and supporting business case is well thought through and planned. 

This depends on how competitive the funding programme is. 

Statistically, most funding calls have budget to fund only ~10% of proposals submitted. It can be less for the most competitive programmes, or more for the least competitive ones (up to ~25%). 

But this is just the numbers and there is a lot we can do to significantly improve our chances of success. 

Key to grant funding success is an understanding of how the evaluation process work. Evaluators score each section of the proposal based on an evaluation marking scheme. We maximise our chances of success by ensuring that our proposal addresses all criteria in the right way. To approach the grant writing process from the perspective of ‘how do we not lose marks?’. 

The key ingredients to success are:

• close alignment with the funding call,
• a highly fundable project concept,
• a robust business case and development plan,
• a winning project team positioned for success,
• demonstrated grant readiness,
• a clear, concise, and persuasive proposal.

See our article ‘How can I maximise my chances of grant funding success?’.

Only those proposals that embody the key ingredients of success, and address all evaluation criteria in the right way, are likely to score well enough to be in the top few % and be selected for funding.

A professional grant writer understands these requirements and how to fulfil them. Their job is to understand the details and nuances of the grant funding programmes, and how to prepare and position a proposal with the optimum chance of success.

And by working with a professional grant writer, you can acquire these capabilities in-house.

A good professional grant writer will help you to:

• identify the most appropriate grant funding opportunities,
• align your project with the funding call,
• critique and develop your concept and business plan so that they are grant ready,
• engage and collaborate with development and value-chain partners,
• prepare and submit a high-quality proposal,
• navigate the grant agreement phase to project start, and
• fulfil the various grant agency reporting requirements.

In essence, they will significantly increase your chances of grant funding success, simplify the grant writing process, reduce disruption to your business, and add value to your project.

Grant funding is highly competitive with a subjective evaluation process. At times it can feel that there is great variability in the evaluation process, often with conflicting feedback between assessors. Based on statistics alone, the odds of success often don’t look great.

Whilst there is a temptation to address this risk by submitting a volume of proposals, it is important to recognise that only proposals that meet a certain quality threshold stand a good chance of success. In reality, many proposals simply don’t meet this required minimum standard, and, by focusing on quality, we can significantly improve our chances of success. 

Grant funding is therefore best viewed as a marathon rather than a sprit. Our goal is to submit a volume of high-quality bids over a sustained period leading to long-term grant funding success. Most of my clients who have adopted this approach have realised a 10+ return-on-investment in the medium-term.