UK registered businesses can apply for funding to resolve productivity and competitiveness issues by working with top scientists and research facilities.
- Competition opens: Monday 9 September 2024
- Competition closes: Wednesday 9 October 2024 11:00am
Analysis for Innovators Round 14: Stage 1 EOI
Competition Details
Summary
Description
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest in small collaborative innovation projects working with our analysis for innovators (A4I) partners:
- the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
- the National Measurement Laboratory (NML) at Laboratory of the Government Chemist Group (LGC)
- the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL)
- the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
- National Gear Metrology Lab (GEARS)
- Newton Gateway to Mathematics
- Advanced Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies (ASTUTE 2020+)
- Henry Royce Institute (HRI)
The aim of this competition is to help businesses address their existing analysis and measurement problems. These are problems that can be best explored by scientists and cutting-edge facilities available in the UK.
Your proposal must describe a measurement or analysis problem where you are seeking a solution to improve your business’s productivity or competitiveness. You must provide an estimate of the value to your business of solving it.
This is stage 1 of a 2 stage competition.
No funding is awarded at this stage.
If you are successful at this stage, you will be invited to brokerage consultations with relevant analysis for innovators partners. These will focus on potential approaches to solving your problem. You will work together to propose joint projects to develop solutions and apply for the stage 2 competition to request funding.
Following assessment, successful stage 2 applications will be grant funded to work with the relevant analysis for innovators partner organisations.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Funding type
Grant
Project size
There is no funding for stage 1 of this competition. If successful at stage 1, your stage 2 project’s total costs must be between £15,000 and £100,000.
Accessibility and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Eligibility
Who can apply
Your application
Your project must:
- meet the A4I problem scope requirements
- relate to work being undertaken in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- involve at least one of the A4I partner organisations
- indicate a stage 2 project duration of between three and six months
Confirmation of your stage 2 project duration and start date will be agreed with your analysis for innovators (A4I) partner during brokerage following a successful stage 1 application.
In stage 2, some or all of your funding from this competition may be subject to Minimal Financial Assistance limits. You will be made ineligible if you exceed this limit. You must submit a completed declaration as part of your application in stage 2.
Lead organisation
To apply to this stage, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Number of applications
A business of any size may make only one application to this competition.
Sanctions
This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.
Use of animals in research and innovation
Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.
Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.
Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.
Previous applications
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.
If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies.
We will not award you funding in stage 2 if you have:
- failed to exploit a previously funded project
- an overdue independent accountant’s report
- failed to comply with grant terms and conditions
Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)
The funded stage 2 of this competition will be in two strands. Your eligibility and the value of your application will decide the choice of which strand you must follow, if your expression of interest (EoI) is successful:
- grant funding in strand 1 will be awarded as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA)
- grant funding in strand 2 will be match-funded under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined route (RDIS)
Strand 1: MFA allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a three year rolling financial period. If you are successful at this EoI stage and progress to your stage 2 application, you will be asked to declare previous MFA funding received by you, from any other source, in the previous three years. This will form part of the financial checks ahead of Innovate UK making a formal grant offer.
To establish your eligibility, we will need to check that our support added to the amount you have previously received does not exceed the limit of £315,000 in the ‘applicable period’.
Strand 2: This competition provides funding to enterprises using the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined route (RDIS) with defined contributions made by A4I partners and you, the Applicant, towards your project costs. The exact amounts you will have to contribute and the amount of any grant offer, will be determined by Innovate UK according to the size of your organisation and the scope of your proposed project.
The Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Scheme can be viewed on the subsidy database here: SC10780.
This is in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).
Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.
EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.
Further Information
If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.
You must always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.
This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.
Funding
There is no funding in this stage 1 competition. Following assessment, successful stage 2 applications will be grant funded.
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Scope
Your proposal
The aim of this competition is to help businesses address their existing analysis and measurement problems. These are problems that can be best explored by scientists and cutting-edge facilities available in the UK.
You must outline what you consider to be the benefits of solving your problem, such as improved productivity or competitiveness.
We will only consider problems that:
- are related to an existing process, product or service owned or used by a company
- are related to the measurement or analysis of some quantities or properties of your process, product or service
- are not effectively solvable by simple ‘off the shelf’ methods or techniques
- relate to a product, service or process improvement owned or used by a company
You must outline any methods and attempts that you have previously tried to address the problem. Do not propose how the problem should be solved.
Analysis problems cannot be simply software related, for example. pure data analysis.
As part of your application, you must include a short video, up to two minutes long.
You must use the Innovate UK video recording platform to record your video.
If we are unable to view your video, your application will be made ineligible.
Portfolio approach
We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets and sectors. We call this a portfolio approach.
Problems we will not consider
We will not consider problems that are:
- not measurement or analysis problems
- ones we consider to be resolvable with easily available methods, such as those that do not require any innovative or cutting-edge science or facilities
- solely computer software analysis problems, such as algorithms to analyse objects
- not related to a company’s existing processes, products or services owned or used by the company
In the stage 2 competition we will not fund any projects that are:
- involved with primary production in fishery and aquaculture
- involved with primary production in agriculture
- relating to the purchase of road freight transport
- not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions
- not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
- dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
- dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if we give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product
Dates
5 September 2024 Online briefing event: watch the recording
Briefing slides are available to download from supporting information.
9 September 2024 Competition opens
9 October 2024 11:00am Competition closes
29 October 2024 Applicants notified
4 November 2024 Innovate UK Business Connect invites to partner brokerage sessions issued
18 November 2024 Partner brokerage sessions start
29 November 2024 Partner brokerage sessions end
13 December 2024 Brokerage outcome notification
How to Apply
How to apply
Before you start
Text update 09 September 2024: We have updated the guidance on Question 8 regarding video submission delays.
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:
- that all the information provided in the application is correct
- your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
- all sections of the application are marked as complete
You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.
What we ask you
The application is split into two sections:
- Project details.
- Application questions.
Accessibility and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
1. Project details
This section provides background for your application and is not scored.
Application team
Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application.
Application details
Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Scope
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
2. Application questions
The assessors will review all your answers apart from questions 1, 2 and 3. You will receive feedback on your application.
You must answer all questions. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation.
We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all applicants.
Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?
You must select one option:
- Yes
- No
We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.
Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Question 3. Permits and licences (not scored)
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?
We are unable to fund projects who do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.
You must select one option:
- Yes
- No
- In process of being applied for
- Not applicable
Question 4. Problem scope
You must select if your problem is related to an existing product, service or process owned or used by your company:
- existing product
- existing service
- existing process
- not yet available
Question 5. Problem
What is the measurement or analysis problem that you need to solve?
You must summarise:
- what the core of the problem is, as described in your video submission
- what your major challenges are in understanding this problem
- any important aspects of the problem that you were unable to show in the video submission
Question 6. Previous attempts to solve the problem
What methods or techniques have you previously tried to solve the problem?
Explain:
- what you did to understand or address the problem
- what success or otherwise you had when trying to address the problem
Question 7. Value to your business of solving the problem
What difference will it make to your business if you can solve this problem?
Explain:
- what you estimate the monetary value of the benefit to be if this problem is solved
- how you arrived at this estimate
- what components contribute to this benefit estimate in terms of productivity and competitiveness gains, such as savings in waste, higher quality products or services, or increased sales or market share
We want to balance helping the most businesses with making the most impact with the grant funding available in stage 2. Assessors are looking for realistic values, not necessarily the biggest numbers.
Question 8: Video Submission
Describe or show the problem you are looking to solve.
Different members of your team can open Pitchtape directly from this application and film the answers to different topics. Once you are happy with your clips you can stitch them together to create a single video.
Your video does not need to be a high budget production. It is your opportunity to showcase your dedication and we look forward to gaining deeper insights into your commitment to your project.
In your video pitch, you must focus on:
- describe or show the problem you are looking to solve.
After you have submitted your video in Pitchtape, a notification will appear here. Make sure you check this link works before continuing with your application. There may be a delay in your video uploading onto IFS from Pitchtape, so please ensure you allow ample time for submitting your application.
Your submission will be stored securely and only accessible to your project team and Innovate UK.
If there are any confidentiality concerns that prevent you from discussing specific content in the video, please make a note of this in your written response to this section.
Review and partner brokerage sessions
After the close of this stage of the competition, your application and video will be reviewed as follows:
- Innovate UK will check your organisation’s eligibility
- Innovate UK will decide whether your application is a measurement or analysis problem and therefore in scope
- an independent panel of experts will decide whether it requires cutting-edge scientific expertise and facilities or whether the problem is solvable using easily available ‘off the shelf’ methods and techniques and is therefore out of scope
- expert scientists from the A4I partner funding organisations will decide whether they have a potential approach to solving your problem
This process will be done in confidence.
If your application is successful at this first stage, you will be invited to attend brokerage sessions with one or more analysis for innovators (A4I) partner organisations. The invitations will be issued by Innovate UK Business Connect.
Innovate UK Business Connect will arrange the initial confidential partner brokerage sessions between successful applicants and scientists from relevant A4I partner organisations. Follow-on sessions will include working on any joint project proposals to submit to stage 2 of this competition.
If unsuccessful we will tell you the reason why your problem was not selected.
Supporting Information
Background and further information
Innovate UK Analysis for Innovators is a very different type of programme from Innovate UK’s usual grant funding competitions. It is focused on helping individual companies solve tricky and perhaps long running technical problems affecting existing processes, products or services.
The programme’s aim is to help boost a company’s productivity or competitiveness. It achieves this by bringing the UK’s top scientists and facilities, often otherwise inaccessible, together with companies to address problems in innovative ways.
The Analysis for Innovators programme has successfully run 13 times between 2016 and 2024. This 14th round of the programme builds upon that experience. It focuses on brokering successful relationships between UK companies and the UK’s leading scientists and experts by grant-funding small follow-on projects to address the problems raised.
Innovate UK video recording platform
We have partnered with Pitchtape, an online platform where you can create and submit a video with the help of templates and recording tools.
We are trialling this video platform as part of this competition and may ask for your feedback.
The platform will guide you through this process and provide step by step instructions to help you create your video.
Further help
If you experience any technical difficulties whilst using the platform, you must contact Customer Support Service on 0300 321 4357 or support@iuk.ukri.org before the submission deadline.
If you need assistance with using the video platform, please contact the Innovate UK Business Connect Analysis for Innovators support team at a4i@iuk.ktn-uk.org.
Briefing slides
Download the briefing slides.
APPLICANT BRIEFING A4I R14 Stage 1 - final.pdf (opens in a new window)
Protecting your innovation
A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.
This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Data sharing
This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, and the Analysis for Innovators partner organisations (each an ‘agency’).
Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.
This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to Analysis for Innovators partner organisations and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:
- the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants
- scoring and feedback on the application
- information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Service Provider (MSP) reports and Independent Accountant Reports
Innovate UK and Analysis for Innovators partner organisations are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and Analysis for Innovators partner organisations will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application and therefore an additional Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) is not required for brokerage.
Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.
Analysis for Innovators support from Innovate UK Business Connect
Innovate UK Business Connect can provide assistance with your application. Please contact the dedicated Innovate UK KTN A4I support team at a4i@iuk.ktn-uk.org.
Contact us
If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.
Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.