Smart Grant Briefing

 

SMART is a UK Government. scheme administered by Innovate UK (aka Technology Strategy Board, TSB). It has been around for over 30 years in various forms, SMART, SPUR, GRD etc.

It is there to support UK SMEs carry out Research and Development that will lead to innovative products or processes that will be commercially successful, ideally on a global scale.

It is very popular as it is the only grant that:

It is available only to UK based SMEs.

It is a single company grant i.e. no collaboration needed.

It is bottom up. i.e. the applicant defines the R&D to be carried out.

It has a very quick decision time

It has 3 separate stages with varying grant value upto £250K , ( described below) but  regardless of the stage applied for (and you may apply for consecutive stages as the project progresses) the Innovate UK innovation criterion must be reached. The following may help define the need.

In evaluating innovation the following points should be considered; not all need apply but some, indeed most, should be relevant to the project:

•  Does it push boundaries over and beyond current leading-edge world science and technology?
•  Is it implicitly innovative? Commercially, scientifically or both? How?
•  Is it looking to apply existing technologies in new innovative areas?
•  What new commercial prospects and opportunities does it represent?
•  What is timely and novel as regards the technical research aspects of the project and how does this fit in the current industrial/business context?
•  What is the 3^rd party evidence that the project is innovative? Evidence could include the results of patent searches, competitor analyses, literature surveys, industry Guru support, published 3^rd party market research, (potential) client input, published Government policy documents, industry specific institutional support, current event(s) etc. Look too at your own verifiable previous research, background IPR and demonstrable industry experience.
•  Is there technical risk involved? When writing business plans for investors and banks risk is usually minimized but to succeed with SMART there must be identifiable technical risk to be overcome. A (potential) patent application will help but is not itself necessarily sufficient to show the level of innovation required.
•  Is your technical and methodological approach appropriate to the needs of the project and can you show how the innovative risk will thus be overcome? A comparison with established rival technologies and alternative R&D strategies should highlight your innovation and show why your solution is better.

Innovation is critical to SMART not only because technical innovative R&D is what SMART supports but because the degree of innovation and novelty will inform the potential for regional, national or global market adoption and penetration and thus the potential for commercial success.

Commercial success is the real objective of SMART support.

 

The 3 stages are:

Proof of Market:

This grant enables companies to assess commercial viability, through:

   market research

   market testing and competitor analysis

   intellectual property position

   initial planning to take the project to commercialisation, including assessing costs,        timescales and funding requirements.

Key features

  Duration - up to 9 months

  Maximum grant - £25k

  Funding proportion - up to 60% of total project costs

Proof of Concept

 A grant to explore the technical feasibility and commercial potential of a new technology, product or process:

   initial feasibility studies

   basic prototyping

   specialist testing and/or demonstration to provide basic proof of technical feasibility

   intellectual property protection

   investigation of production and assembly options.

Key features

  Duration - up to 18 months

  Maximum grant - up to £100k

  Funding proportion - up to 60% of total project costs

Development Projects

This funding is used by companies to carry out Experimental Development

(i.e. systematic work, drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and practical experience that is directed to producing new materials, products and devices; or to installing new processes, systems and services; or to improving substantially those already produced or installed).

 This should result in a pre-production prototype of a technologically innovative product, service or industrial process and may also include all or part of the following:

  small demonstrators

  intellectual property protection

  trials and testing,

  market testing

  marketing strategies

  identifying routes to market

  product design work

Key features

 Duration - up to 2 years

 Maximum grant - £250k

 Funding proportion - up to 45% for small and micro enterprises

It is worth noting the split between different types of prototype allowed. Thus:

Basic Prototyping:

Bench type prototyping to test the technology, science etc. of the idea. It would be expected to perform some or all of the functionality of the final solution but not

be in the final form. Also models, drawings and other representations to show how a final solution would work.

Pre-production prototyping (not suitable for PoC projects):

A late stage prototype that likely would 'work like' and 'look-like' the expected final solution, but which could not be sold commercially.

NB. You may start at any stage, thus you do not need to complete stage 1 before going on to stage 2 and/or then onto stage 3

Assessment

The application will be assessed by 3 technically competent individuals currently active in industry (normally).

The questions/areas to be assessed would be:

1) What is the business opportunity that this project addresses?

2) What is the size and nature of the market opportunity that this project might open up?

3) How will the results of the project be exploited?

4) What economic opportunities will this project help bring about to those outside of the business and over what timescale? What about social and environmental benefits?

5) Project Plan and Technical Approach: How will the project be managed and what technical approach will be adopted?

6) Innovation: What is innovative about this project?

7) Risks: What are the risks (technical, commercial and environmental) to project success? What is the project's risk management strategy?

8) Applicant Skills: Does the applicant have the right skills and experience and access to

facilities to deliver the identified benefits?

9) Financial Commitment: Please explain the financial commitment required for the project.

10) Financial Support: How does financial support from Innovate UK add value?

Note that the questions 9 and 10 are only high level assessments. After you have received a conditional offer of grant letter (approx. 1 month after the close of the round, in this case, March 26th⁾ a detailed financial review will take place before the project can start.

It is worth noting that Qs1-4 are all commercial matters and are as important as the technical stuff covered in 5-8. Commercial success is the real objective of SMART support

It is important to score well in all areas in order to hit the target cut off score typically >83% overall. This is a very high score and thus SMART is very very competitive with a success rate of under 20% overall.

Assessment is very quick by grant standards. Conditional offers are normally made within one month of the submission cut-off date

The next cut off date is 26^th March 2015 at noon.

The above gives a broad outline of the SMART grant opportunities and requirements

Grant Aid has been very successful in the past at getting grants at all 3 stages of the SMART competition.

We can save you management time and increase substantially the chances of a successful application.

See www, grantaid.com and complete the enquiry form to open a discussion.

 

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