A new Innovate UK competition is offering grants of up to £1 million to Scottish Bio-based manufacturers and their partners. Here’s what you need to know.
Key information about Launchpad: Bio-based Manufacturing, Scotland – Round 2 CR&D:
- You must collaborate with at least one other organisation
- You must be or work with at least one micro, small or medium-sized business (SME)
- The deadline is 11 December 2024 at 11 am
This £5.25 million competition is funded by Innovate UK in partnership with Scottish Enterprise. It’s split into two strands – collaborative R&D (discussed in this blog) and Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA), which you can read about here.
This competition is part of Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme, which helps SMEs commercialise their ideas by providing funding and other sources of support to technology clusters across the UK.
Below, I’ve explained who’s eligible for this competition, how much funding you could secure, and how to apply. If you’d like an expert assessment of your eligibility and how likely your project is to win funding, GrantTree’s experts are here to help.
Who’s eligible for the Launchpad: Bio-based Manufacturing, Scotland – Round 2 CR&D?
To understand whether you’re eligible for this competition, we need to look at your project, your organisation, and who you’re partnering with.
Your project
Your project must:
- Last 6-18 months
- Start on or after 1 May 2025
- Start on the first of the month
- End by 31 December 2026
Project type
In addition, your project must be one of:
- A feasibility study – Evaluating a project’s potential to determine whether it deserves additional resources
- Experimental development projects – Helping organisations make further technical improvements to advanced products, processes or services by testing them in environments that represent real-world conditions. Experimental development projects can include prototyping, demonstrating and piloting
The type of project you are looking to undertake affects the size of grant you can apply for—more on that in the ‘Funding amounts’ section.
Your project team
This is a collaborative competition, meaning you must work with at least one other organisation.
Your consortium – the team of companies and non-commercial organisations you’re working with to deliver your project – must include at least one SME.
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Project leads
To lead a project, you must:
- Be a UK-registered business of any size
- Be looking to grow your innovation activities in the bio-based manufacturing cluster in Scotland
- Have “demonstrable ambitions for growth”
Project partners
To collaborate with the project lead, you must be UK-registered and one of the following types of organisation:
- Academic institution
- A business of any size
- Charity
- Not-for-profit
- Public sector organisation
- Research and Technology Organisation (RTO)
Your project team can include non-UK-registered organisations. Their costs will count towards your total eligible project costs, but they won’t be eligible for grant funding.
Funding amounts for Launchpad: Bio-based Manufacturing, Scotland – Round 2 CR&D
This competition offers grants of up to £1 million.
That’s across your entire consortium. The amount of funding your individual organisation will be able to secure depends on:
- What type of organisation you are
- If you’re a company, what type of project you’re looking to undertake and how large you are
Your organisation type
| Organisation Type | Maximum grant size (% of qualifying costs) |
|---|---|
|
RTO, charity, not-for-profit or public sector organisation |
100% |
|
Je-S registered institutions such as university |
80% of full economic costs (FEC) |
|
Businesses |
70% |
Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity, like RTOs and universities, can share up to 30% of your project’s total eligible costs.
Funding for companies
Things are more complicated for businesses. The amount of funding they can apply for depends on two things: their size and what type of project they and their partners are looking to undertake.
| Project Type | Micro/Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Feasibility Study |
70% |
60% |
50% |
|
Experimental Development |
45% |
35% |
25% |
You can read more about the government’s definition of micro, small, medium and large companies grant purposes here.
You’ll have to cover the remainder of your costs with match funding. Essentially, funding from other sources, like revenue, equity investment, or government schemes like R&D Tax Credits or Innovation Loans.
As you can see, it can be difficult to work out how much grant funding you can apply for through the Bio-based Manufacturing, Scotland competition.
If you want help working out how much funding you can secure and what other sources of funding are open to you, GrantTree’s experts would be happy to help.
How to apply for the Launchpad: Bio-based Manufacturing competition
The application for this competition has four sections, listed below.
Your application will be reviewed and scored by three assessors. Each of their scores counts towards your final score, which will determine whether or not your application is successful.
Applications are submitted through the IFS Portal.
- Project details – provides background on your company and application and isn’t scored
- Application Questions – the most important part of your application. Contains 9 questions, all but the first three are scored
- Finances – where all project partners list their qualifying costs. Academic institutions must upload a Je-S form
- Project Impact – not scored, but provides useful background to your assessors. It must be completed by all partners
Let our experts maximise your chances of success
The Launchpad: Bio-based Manufacturing, Scotland – Round 2 CR&D competition is an excellent opportunity for you to secure game-changing funding for your organisation.
But, like all Innovate UK schemes, this call is bound to be extremely competitive, with only a small percentage of applicants receiving funding.
That’s where GrantTree can help. Our funding experts can increase your chances of winning significantly, calling on decades of grant-winning expertise to show why your project deserves funding.
We offer a range of services designed to suit different budgets and skill levels, giving you the support you need to make your idea a reality.
To learn more about how GrantTree can help you, contact us.
