IP/Patent | Grants

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Let me tell you about Smart Grants - it's the talk of the town for UK innovators. With an impressive budget of around £100m each year, this grant funding competition has been around for over a decade, offering up to 4 funding rounds per year. And, here's the best part, the eligibility criteria is wide open, attracting applicants from all sectors.

Recently, the competitiveness of Smart Grants has gone through the roof, especially with the temporary reduction of sector-specific funds. It's become quite a challenge for innovative minds to secure funding, but don't lose hope just yet.

In response to the growing demand and competitiveness of Smart Grants, Innovate UK has made some major changes. They're now putting more emphasis on the value that public funding will bring to the applicant's project, including the applicant's funding journey so far and the wider impacts on the region and socio-economic benefits.

And, if you're working on a breakthrough innovation that's truly world-leading, this is your time to shine! Innovate UK is now prioritizing these types of projects and will be requiring applicants to provide robust evidence as to why they're the best fit for the opportunity and how they plan to quickly commercialize and exploit the project outputs, especially through export growth.

One thing to keep in mind, if you want to secure funding through Smart Grants, you better be able to demonstrate the significant ROI for both yourself and the UK taxpayer. Plus, it's expected that you've researched alternative funding options and have a clear rationale as to why Smart Grants is the best option for you currently.