Companies can apply for up to £175,000 in grant funding for early-stage feasibility projects delivered alongside one or more of the Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC) hubs.
The Diet and health innovation competition is designed to help UK registered businesses and UK research organisations to design and develop innovative food products that support sustained health and well-being.
The competition’s £2.5 million funding pot is provided by Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The competition opens on 14 February 2024 and closes on 8 May 2024.
Below are the key things you need to know about the Diet and health innovation competition: who is eligible, how much funding you can access and how to apply.
Thinking about applying for this competition? Our Coaching and Strategic Grants Review services let you harness GrantTree’s decades of grant-winning expertise alongside personalised feedback from an active Innovate UK assessor explaining how to strengthen your application.
To learn more about how GrantTree can help you secure a sizable grant from the Diet and health innovation: Early-stage feasibility projects competition, get in touch.
Am I eligible for this competition?
To make things easier, we’ll look at the eligibility criteria for your project and your organisation separately.
Your project
Your project must:
- Be an early-stage feasibility study*
- Have total costs between £100,000 and £250,000
- Last 9 to 18 months
- Start by 1 October 2024
- End by 31 March 2026
*Feasibility studies determine whether an early-stage technology works in laboratory or simulated conditions.
Your project must have the potential to “impact the nutritional quality of food and drink products consumed by the UK population.”
Your organisation
To lead a project, you must:
- Be a UK-registered business of any size
- Or a research organisation, such as a university or NHS body, that is eligible for UKRI funding
Lead applicants and partners must be members of a Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC) hub.
Your consortium must include at least one business and one research organisation.
To collaborate with a lead, your organisation must be a UK-registered:
- business of any size
- academic institution
- charity
- not for profit
- public sector organisation
- research and technology organisation (RTO)
How much funding could I access?
If you are a company, the size of the grant you can access depends on how large you are. Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of project costs companies of different sizes can receive in grant funding:
- 70% if you’re a micro or small organisation
- 60% if you’re a medium-sized organisation
- 50% if you’re a large organisation
So, if you’re a small organisation with total project costs of £200,000, you could secure up to £140,000 in grant funding.
Read what the terms micro, small, medium and large mean in relation to grant funding.
If you’re a research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, you can share up to 50% of the total eligible costs. Of that 50%, you could get funding worth:
- 80% of the full economic costs (FEC) of your costs if you’re a Je-S registered institution
- 100% of your project costs if you’re an RTO, charity, not-for-profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
How do I apply?
The application is split into four sections:
- Project details
- Application questions
- Finances
- Project Impact
Project details is unscored and consists of five areas.
Application questions consists of 14 questions, all of which are scored apart from 1-4.
Finances is where you and your partners detail your planned expenditure for the project.
Project impact isn’t scored but provides Innovate UK with valuable background information about what impact you believe your project will have.
Maximise your chances of success with grant-winning expertise
The Diet and health innovation competition offers businesses and other organisations working in the healtech space the opportunity to secure up to £175,000 in grant funding.
If you’re currently preparing or planning to prepare an application, GrantTree’s grant-writing experts can empower you with the tools and insights you need to give your submission the best possible chance of success.
Our Strategic Grants Review Service delivers two rounds of detailed, actionable feedback from a current Innovate UK assessor on how to strengthen your application. The feedback is easy to implement and highly tailored to the competition you’re applying to.
Meanwhile, our Coaching Service is a collaborative offering where a veteran grants writer with experience in your industry works with your team to prepare a compelling, eye-catching application, equipping your people with the skills the writer has honed after years of preparing winning submissions. You’ll also receive a round of detailed feedback from an active Innovate UK assessor, helping you take the final step towards success.
To learn more about these services and whether they’re right for you, just get in touch. We’d be delighted to help!
