Welcome to Grant Watch, a monthly look at some of the most exciting grant funding opportunities open to UK innovators.
August is upon us. The weather is stabilising, the Olympics are in full swing, and most exciting of all, it’s time for another instalment of GrantTree’s Grant Watch!
In case you don’t know, Grant Watch is a regular roundup of the most intriguing funding opportunities open to UK innovators each month.
Once again, our funding experts have chosen competitions which target a wide variety of sectors. So do take a look to see if there’s anything that might be right for your business.
Nothing doing? Don’t worry. These are just a fraction of the competitions open this month.
For a much longer list of competitions, check out UKRI’s Funding Finder or Innovate UK’s slicker Innovation Funding Service tool.
And to keep up to date with the latest government funding opportunities for your business, plus all future editions of Grant Watch, make sure you sign up to GrantTree’s newsletter.
Project size: Up to £50,000
A consortium of scientific and research agencies including Innovate UK and the National Physical Laboratory are providing up to £3 million to support small, collaborative projects that match UK scientists and cutting-edge facilities with businesses that have analysis or measurement problems.
When applying for this competition, you must describe the nature of your measurement or analysis problem, how resolving it would improve your productivity or competitiveness, and an estimate of the value solving this problem would generate for your business.
This is the Expression of Interest (EoI) stage of the competition. If you successfully pass the EoI stage, you will be invited to brokerage consultations that will focus on how to approach solving your problem.
Stage 2 applications will be grant-funded to work with relevant partner organisations.
Opens – 26 July 2021
Closes – 18 August 2021
Project size: Between £250,000 and £4 million
Innovate UK’s £18 million Biomedical Catalyst will provide grant funding to companies developing innovative healthcare products, technologies and processes.
To qualify for funding, your project can address one of several areas, including, but not limited to:
- Disease prevention and diagnosis
- Management of chronic health conditions
- Tailored treatments and cures
Your project must also have total eligible costs of between £250,000 and £4 million. It must also start on or after 1 April 2022 and last between 12 and 36 months.
Your company must be a UK-registered SME that will carry out and exploit its development work in the UK.
Opened – 7 June 2021
Closes – 26 August 2021
Project size: This competition will award grants of between £200,000 and £4 million per project.
Innovate UK is investing up to £7 million in innovative projects that could help the country meet its four 2025 Plastic Pact targets.
To qualify for this grant, your project must:
- Improve the sustainability of the plastic packaging supply chain
- Make a significant contribution towards delivering the targets of the UK Plastics Pact
- Utilise at-scale innovation in design, technology, processes, business models, supply chains or data for plastic packaging
- Embed a whole systems approach to plastic packaging sustainability, considering environmental, economic, and social factors
Your project must start in early 2022 and end by 31 March 2025, and last between 12 and 36 months.
Opens – 18 May 2021
Closes – 8 September 2021
Funded by the NHS England and NHS improvement, this Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition will provide funding to technologies that help the NHS achieve its net-zero emissions target.
To qualify, your technology must address one of these four subcategories:
- Reducing emissions from care miles
- Reducing emissions from surgical pathways
- Tools to support low-carbon decision making
- Reducing nitrous oxide emission
Your application must take into account the supply chain, full product life-cycle, as well as the impact that your solutions will have on carbon emissions.
Opens – 13 July 2021
Closes – 24 August 2021
Project size: Between £50,000 and £150,000
The SBRI is offering up to £4 million in grant funding for social impact companies looking to address one or more of the seven themes in the Healthy Ageing Challenge Framework.
The competition is made up of two strands:
- Healthy Ageing Social Ventures Feasibility Studies for projects with costs up to £50,000
- Healthy Ageing Social Ventures industrial research for prototype development and evaluation projects, with costs between £50,000 and £150,000 (this strand)
SBRI may choose to add a second phase to this competition, depending on the outcomes of phase 1 and the availability of further funding.
Phase 2 will only be open to successful applications from Phase 1.
Opened – Monday 19 July 2021
Closes – Wednesday 15 September 2021
Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards were established to celebrate women with innovative ideas and ambitious plans that can inspire the next generation of female business leaders.
The competition will reward successful applicants with grants worth £50,000 and a bespoke package of mentoring, coaching and business support.
To apply, you must be working on an innovative project that can make a significant contribution to a pressing societal, environmental or economic challenge.
This competition is made up of two phases. In phase 1, applications will be judged by an independent committee. In phase 2, a shortlist of applications from phase 1 will be interviewed by a panel of experts.
Looking for grant funding?
If your technology is ready for a grant, and you’re looking to bolster your chances by working with a grant-funding specialist, just get in touch.
Our team is standing by to help you get the funding you need.
