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Innovate UK pauses its £25M Smart Grant scheme for review, impacting SMEs. New support package expected Spring 2025.
Innovate UK, part of the UK Research and Innovation funding body (UKRI), announced the pause of the Smart Grant scheme while it reviews the suitability of existing funding mechanisms for SMEs.
Innovate UK’s Smart Grant funding scheme was worth up to £25 million a year and funded innovative, high-impact projects in any area of technology. The programme ran two or three times a year, fielding proposals for business-focused innovations with costs of up to £1 million.
The latest recipients were announced in January 2025, but these will be the last cohort until the scheme has been evaluated for value.
With a generous 70% project funding and wide-ranging eligibility criteria, the Smart Grant scheme was incredibly popular.
In its September 2024 announcement, Innovate UK provided a statistical breakdown of the applications and winners; the result was a 2.8% success rate, or 46 funded projects of 1,645 applications. The Smart Grant calls in 2023 had success rates between 3.1% to 5.5%.
This means wasted agency time spent evaluating applications (as each is assessed by three individuals) and wasted time for SMEs writing proposals with less than a 3% chance of being funded.
Writing a Smart Grant proposal is a huge effort for SMEs, requiring over 4,300 words required, not including the financial analysis and project impact description.
With dwindling success rates and a new government focus on job and wealth creation, Innovate UK has announced its efforts to “get a new, tailored package of support ready for springtime”, according to a spokeswoman.
In this transitional period, Innovate UK has asked for innovative startups and SMEs to share their thoughts on how the funding body can better serve their needs and tailor support to innovation, sustainability and scaling.
However, the spokeswoman denied that there was pressure to reduce the grants awarded due to Whitehall’s spending review; “that is completely not the case”.
Innovate UK’s other business supports remain during the interim, as do its more specialised funding calls.
At Myriad, we have years of experience making and supporting grant bid proposals in the UK and Europe. With over €300 million secured in the last three years, we know funding bodies are looking for.
If you have questions about your project or want to discuss your options for innovation funding, get in touch with our team.
Innovate UK pauses its £25M Smart Grant scheme for review, impacting SMEs. New support package expected Spring 2025.
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