A SMART GRANT COULD BE A GAME CHANGER FOR YOUR FIRM, BUT IT’S A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE PROCESS. HERE’S HOW TO CREATE A STAND-OUT APPLICATION:

ABOUT THIS EVENT

In 2020, we helped South West innovators raise over £16million in Innovate UK grants. In this webinar, we explain exactly what the grant assessors are looking for and how to make your proposition stand out from the rest.

We’ll start by outlining eligibility – giving you clarity on whether you meet the criteria so you can be sure that you’re not wasting your time in applying.

Innovate UK Smart Grant awards are highly competitive, and you will need a first-class pass, scoring 80% or above. We’ll explain how to score highly in every section, align yourself with Innovate UK’s goals and submit a fully compliant application.

Our speaker, Dr Ben Masheder, Innovate UK EDGE Funding and Finance Manager, will demonstrate how to communicate this with bold, simple writing, helping you to make the assessor’s ‘yes’ decision as simple as possible.

Ben will also explain how to avoid the common pitfalls, how to present your financials properly and how to manage the process effectively from beginning to end.

Key topics covered:

  • Are you eligible for a Smart Grant? What stage of your innovation journey should you be at?
  • Essential groundwork: how to prepare your financials, gather critical information and manage time from beginning to end.
  • A walk through the competition questions – how to impress assessors in each section and maximise your chances of success.

At the end of the webinar, you will have an understanding of:

  • How to demonstrate the scale of your opportunity, detailing your market’s size and route to market – how to back up your assertions and claims with evidence
  • The common mistakes that lead to disqualification, and how to avoid them
  • How to grab the assessor’s attention, stand out from the crowd, meet the requirements and get funded

Who should participate in the webinar?

  • Ambitious SMEs actively undertaking R&D projects with high growth potential

After the webinar, fully funded support from Innovate UK EDGE will be available to eligible businesses, including:

  • Bespoke support with Smart Grant applications
  • A list of references and tools

Innovate 2021 webinar series

This webinar is part of Innovate UK EDGE’s ‘Innovate 2021’ series on supporting growing and scaling businesses.

We’ll also be covering the bespoke support available from Innovate UK EDGE and how our innovation and growth specialists can help your business build on its internal strengths and capabilities, find new opportunities and access funding and finance. Click here to view details and register for other webinars.

Speaker

Dr Ben Masheder, Access to Funding and Finance Manager, Innovate UK EDGE, South West.

Ben leads a team of highly experienced grant funding, equity investment and debt finance specialists. The team supports hundreds of innovative businesses across the South West, helping them to secure funding, find solutions to challenging financial requirements, and grow their companies. In 2020, his team supported some of the most innovative companies in the region in raising over £30m in finance and funding.