East Midlands-based funding consultancy TBAT Innovation says the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Government support for business has been lifted with the recent announcement of a £561 million grants programme available through Innovate UK¹. The consultancy is now anticipating a rise in enquiries from companies eager to progress their business ideas using the Innovate UK Smart Grant programme.
Matt Symonds, director of TBAT Innovation comments: “It’s been a desert on the funding front over the past few months, which has led to uncertain times for the UK innovator. This cloud of uncertainty has brought risk and as a result, innovation funding has felt like it has been on pause. With Innovate UK’s delivery plan for 2016/17 being published earlier this month, there has been a feeling of fresh funding air.
“I think it is safe to say that the complexity of Innovate UK’s previous funding opportunities is a thing of the past. As business consultants we recognised this complexity was a major barrier to companies working with the government agency, so we needed to help businesses navigate which funding opportunity they would fit into. It appears that Innovate UK has heard this cry and is trying to reduce complexity by basing funding around four sector groups. These reflect the UK’s priority areas of Emerging and Enabling Technologies, Infrastructure Systems, Manufacturing and Materials, and Health and Life Sciences. To simplify matters further, there will be two competitions yearly in each of these sectors.
“The Open Programme is a new departure for Innovate UK and is aimed at all businesses undertaking innovation, irrespective of the technology or sector they are working in. This means that that even if the business does not fall into one of the four main sectors, there is still a chance to benefit from a piece of the £561m budget.”
TBAT Innovation is now one of the UK’s leading business consultancies in its field. Established in 2002, the niche consultancy specialises in assisting its clients to access a range of grants and funding. TBAT will signpost to relevant funding opportunities as well as assisting with scoping, writing and submitting applications. Over the last 12 months TBAT has had a success rate of 76% in UK grant funding applications and has raised £16.7m in grant financing for its clients.
As Innovate UK releases further details, TBAT will be running free-to-attend Funding Clinic’s suitable for both start-up or established companies from early May.
To find out more information, please visit the TBAT website – www.tbat.co.uk