Shaping the UK’s funding landscape and how UK businesses can leverage these opportunities

Episode two of the Disrupting Manufacturing webinar series took place on 26 March 2024 and was focused on funding for innovation and implementing new technologies. Hosted by UKFT, the webinar featured Tony Boon from LLUK, Rhianna Briars from the knowledge transfer partnership team at De Montfort University and Sue Rainton from LITAC and Future Fashion Factory, who shared insights from both sides of the table – as a manufacturer securing investment and programmes to support innovation.

This webinar was the second in our three-part series exploring how technology can solve problems and create opportunities within apparel manufacturing. You can read about the key takeaways from the first episode here.

Scroll down to discover the key takeaways from this webinar:

• When it comes to accessing funding, there is lack of transparency with some of the UK funding schemes and the terminology can be inaccessible. This isn’t just an issue in the fashion and textile industry.
• When you consider applying for funding, consider communicating with universities and explore the potential of working together. Don’t be afraid to collaborate and ask questions!
• Don’t apply for funding just because it is there: “You waste so much time thinking about what you really want to do, trying to rephrase it so it fits the funding, and if you have to rephrase it too much, it wont get funded anyway”
• When applying for funding, consider: “What would it do for you as a business? What would it do for the industry? It’s not just about doing something new for the new-sake, it’s something that should be meaningful.”
• People often get so fixated on writing the business model that the “so what?” angle is lost. What’s the purpose? “A lot of the time, the reason bids fail is because people have failed to do the due diligence”
• What is a KTP? KTP stands for Knowledge Transfer Partnership and its mechanisms connect forward thinking businesses with the UK’s world class knowledge bases to deliver business led innovation projects.
• “The difference between accelerated KTPs and the full ones is quite a big step to suddenly ‘say we’re going to look and invest’. An accelerated KTP allows you to trial it out, almost prove the concept  before you think, is this something we need to do?”

To read more about Investment and Funding, visit here.

Thank you to our speakers Tony, Rhianna and Sue for sharing their advice and simplifying the process of applying for funding for us all.

UKFT members can catch up on this and other webinars to discover exclusive insights, expert tips and game-changing strategies at your own pace. UKFT members enjoy on-demand access to all webinars which means you can catch up anytime, anywhere. Enhance your knowledge and stay ahead of the key topics in our sector. To access the recording, email info@ukft.org or find out about UKFT membership here.