GrantTree helps three innovative businesses access transformative funding from highly competitive scheme.
GrantTree helped three companies secure over £1 million in grant funding from the October 2022 round of Innovate UK’s popular Smart competition.
Smart offers innovative SMEs, and their partners, a share of up to £25 million and single grants worth up to £1.4 million. There are three to four rounds of Smart per year. The latest round, January 2023, is currently open to applications.
To learn more about the January 2023 round of Smart, including who is eligible and how much funding you could access, read our dedicated blog.
Smart is open, but competitive
The three businesses span a range of exciting industries and fields of technological advancement.
While most innovation grant competitions focus on a particular technology, challenge, or stage of company development, Smart is open to any UK-based small and medium-sized business – plus consortiums that include them – with a sufficiently innovative project. This allows companies from diverse fields to apply for the same funding pot.
Smart’s openness to many different industries is a real benefit to companies that are not usually eligible for Innovate UK grants, such as those involved in logistics and business insights. However, this openness also makes Smart extremely competitive, much more so than most other innovation-based schemes.
Leveraging GrantTree’s services
Between them, the three companies utilised GrantTree’s Full Write and Coaching services – two of the three we provide as part of our grants consultancy offering.
The Full Service Write (FSW) offers the full range of GrantTree’s expertise. Each FSW client is assigned a GrantTree partner, who will oversee the grant’s delivery, a technical writer with an advanced degree (PhD or higher) in a field relevant to the client’s technology, and a reviewer, who ensures the client’s application is as strong as possible before it’s submitted it to the awarding body.
Meanwhile, our Coaching Service is designed to give companies the confidence they need to prepare their own application. Once a Coaching client has drafted their submission, GrantTree arranges for an independent assessor – one presently reviewing applications for the awarding body – to provide detailed, actionable feedback designed to improve the client’s chances of success.
Be Smart. Apply for grant funding with GrantTree
Winning a Smart grant can be transformative for early-stage innovators.
However, the chances of winning a Smart grant are relatively low – that is unless you work with an experienced grants consultant like GrantTree.
Over 65% of the grants our team has worked on over the last 12 years have been accepted by Innovate UK and other award bodies.
If you want to give your application the best possible chance of success and secure a sizable grant that could propel your project towards commercialisation, speak to GrantTree today.
