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West of England Growth Hub – Support for Small to Medium sized Enterprises to accelerate innovation.
The Business Innovation Fund is designed to help businesses progress research and development (R&D) activity leading to the creation of novel/new products, processes and/or services. Grant funding is available to help with this, which can be applied for via competitive application rounds.
The round 5 application window for grant funding is currently open. The deadline to apply is 12.00, Thursday 23rd May 2024.
How much will I get?
Businesses can apply for grant funding to cover a percentage of their projects costs. The remaining must be provided by the applicant business. Further details can be found in the grant guidance available for each application round.
Grant funding is paid on defrayal, which means if you are awarded support, you must spend money first before making a claim to us. You must therefore be in a position to cashflow your project to completion. Projects should aim to complete within 12 months of being awarded funding.
What can I use the funding for?
The Business Innovation Fund supports SMEs to progress experimental development R&D, which means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills with the aim of creating novel/new products, processes or services. It does not mean routine or periodic changes made to existing products, processes or services.
Eligible spend in pursuit of experimental R&D must be against: gross employment costs, materials costs, capital usage costs, sub contract costs, travel and subsistence and other direct project costs.
More detail on eligible costs is available in the grant guidance.
West of England Growth Hub are able to fund SMEs from any sector, although those from the following, aligning with our regional innovation cluster strengths and as described in our Plan for Innovation 2024-2029, are particularly encouraged to apply:
- Immersive Creative
- Advanced Engineering
- Health Sciences
- Sustainable Fintech
They are also keen to support SMEs that are contributing to our transition to net zero and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Find out the full details here.
If you have further queries, including on accessibility, please email the team at wearegrowth@westofengland-ca.gov.uk
