First, let’s delve into what a grant is. A grant is typically funding awarded for a particular business activity. There are different types of grants, largely business grants and innovation grants and both have different purposes, grantmakers and budgets.
Business grants can aid with business costs, for example, EV charge points (e.g. Workplace charging Scheme) and broadband (e.g. Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme). Whereas Innovation grants aim to fund R&D projects. Grants are different to bids and tenders, tenders, or Invitation To Tender (ITT), and can be found on portals such as Contracts Finder and London Tender Portal), to ‘bid’ or apply to deliver specific work. Sometimes grants and bids are mistaken for one another, but they are very different.
At MPA we focus on innovation grants as part of our holistic professional services. Innovation grants can be found in different places, such as:

• Government Grants: Home – Find a grant (find-government-grants.service.gov.uk) 
• Local Enterprise Partnership: LEP Growth Hubs | The LEP Network 
• Innovate UK: Innovation competitions – Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk) 
• KTN and Business Connect: Home – Innovate UK Business Connect (ktn-uk.org) 
• Innovation Hub: Finance & Funding | the innovation hub (ukri.org) 
• No Limits: No Limits – Innovate UK (ukri.org) 

Knowing now where to find them, how do you know which competition to apply for? 

Using the Technology Readiness Levels, we can show on a scale, how mature your innovation is and what grant best suits it.  

• TRL 1: Basic Principles – Basic or every early-stage technology research. 
• TRL 2: Invention and Research – The concept of how it can be applied is developed taking it from invention to innovation. 
• TRL 3: Proof of Concept – Experiment with the application of the technology based on its key use case. 
• TRL 4: Bench Scale Research – Components are validated in a lab or simulated environment. 
• TRL 5: Pilot Scale – Components are validated in a relevant environment based on its use case and application on a small scale. 
• TRL 6: Large Scale – System or model demonstration in a relevant environment on a wider scale. 
• TRL 7: Inactive Commissioning – System or model prototype is tested in a real-life environment. 

• TRL 8: Active Commissioning – Actual system or model is completed and qualified through a last demonstration before release. 
• TRL 9: Operations – Actual system is “flight proven” through successful testing in real-life environments and ready for the market. 

So, TRL 1-2 would likely be being researched with or at a university or in a laboratory environment. The grants available are generally Research Council: Our councils – UKRI for Fundamental Research projects. Councils typically fund hubs, facilities, centres and networks to focus on a cutting-edge research areas. 

TRL 3-4 is at the point of testing the proof of concept or basic research prototypes, and are suitable for innovation grants from Innovate UK, in particular Feasibility Studies and Industrial Research (please see (please see An Introduction to Innovation Grants blog post where we break down these projects in more detail and what it means for the % funding). 

More mature innovations, at the point of TRL 6-7 may be interested in larger grants to test their technology application at a broader scale. As this is closer to the market and likely to have less R&D activity, these are from an Innovate UK perspective, Experimental Development projects where the funding % is lower than Feasibility Studies and Industrial Research.

In our blog post An Introduction to Innovation Grants we also talked about the levels of innovation, but also consider the types of innovation. To do this we can use Doblin’s innovation model: MindTools | Home 

Innovation can be a new business model, product or service for a grant. It can be the application of an existing innovation for a new application or a completely new innovation. 

Other considerations for grant readiness 

Now you know what type of grant you may be seeking, and the level of innovation suited to the types of projects and grant competitions, there are also other factors to consider about the readiness of your business for a grant. 

• Match funding for 45-70% grant funded projects: Does your business have the funding available to match the grant funding? Where will this match funding come from? 
• Project team capabilities: Does your team have the technical and commercial skills, capacity and capabilities to deliver the grant funded project? 
• Capacity to deliver the project and Business as Usual: Does your business have the availability in the team to deliver the project and BAU in parallel to enable your business to innovate and continue operating? 
• Ambitions for the project: Does the project for grant funding fit your company’s vision and goals? 
• The nature of innovation: The nature of innovation involves assessing its disruptive potential, market readiness, technological complexity, risk profile, value proposition, scalability, IP strategy, collaborative opportunities, and sustainability. Understanding these factors helps align your project with grant objectives and enhances its viability for funding. 

Grant Kickstarter: Get your business grant-ready 

If you’re new to the grant world, or have been unsuccessful in previous grant applications, our Grant Kickstarter Bootcamp is the perfect opportunity for you to improve your grant application. Our boot camp is designed to equip businesses with the knowledge and documentation required to succeed in the grant application process. This boot camp is ideal for first-time grant applicants or those who are interested in applying for an Innovate UK Smart Grant and any UK government competition in the future.

• 1-day bootcamp
• 1 hour of 1-2-1 coaching from our experienced Head of Grants Services Dr Chloe Sharp
• We provide you with templates, checklists, and other resources designed to simplify the  application process

Contact Us 

If you’d like to learn more about if grants are the right route for your business and what grants are available, please get in contact with our grants team below.