UK registered fashion and textile SMEs can apply for a share of up to £25 million for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovations that can significantly impact the UK economy. This funding is from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.

The Innovate UK Smart grant has focused scope and eligibility criteria to support micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their partners in developing genuinely new innovations with significant potential for rapid economic return to the UK.

Proposals must be business focused, and show deliverable, realistic, adequately resourced plans to achieve return on investment, growth and market share following project completion. Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy.

Projects of 6 to 18 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000 and can be single or collaborative. Projects of 19 to 24 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £1 million and be collaborative.

Eligibility

This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations.

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• be a UK registered research and technology organisation (RTO)
• carry out all your research and development (R&D) project activity (in the UK this should include all subcontractor activities)
• intend to commercially exploit the project results from the UK
• You must be or involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise(SME).

Scope

To be in scope your proposal must demonstrate:

• a ground breaking and innovative idea for brand new products, processes or services
• an idea that is significantly different from already available products, processes or services globally
• an idea that is set for rapid commercialisation following project completion
• clear potential to positively impact the UK’s position, productivity and competitiveness within the global economy
• a clear, evidence based business plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
• why Smart funding is the right potential funding for your project, and the journey you have already been on to reach the point of application
• a team with the necessary skills and expertise to deliver the project successfully and on time, and to achieve rapid commercialisation
• awareness of all the main risks the project will face with realistic management, mitigation and impact minimisation plans for each risk
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines that represent good value for money, including the funding of post project activities

Specific themes

Your project must focus on:

• taking customer and user needs into account to deliver more desirable and useful solutions
• identifying who is ready to buy your innovation
• being developed, planned and resourced beyond the end of the Innovate UK funded project, taking into account the focus of any project partners and their existing commitments
• fitting in with and complementing your ongoing business planning and development, product offerings and organisational structure to maximise chances of success

The competition closes at 11am on 23 October 2024.

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