Grant funding is the perfect way to finance your Research and Development (R&D) because it gives you the upfront funds you need to start your next venture. Grant funding typically comes in three different varieties – government grants, enterprise grants and corporate grants. This means you have a wide range of competitions you can apply for, but it’s worth understanding what these terms mean in order to know where your applications should be targeted.
Government Funding
Typically, these grants are made available to companies who can prove they are involved in innovative R&D projects, and the money comes directly from the government. Bodies such as Innovate UK, Scottish Enterprise and Invest Northern Ireland all operate at arm’s length from the government but distribute government funds to companies engaged in meaningful R&D. The pots of money available are incredibly generous, ranging from £25,000 up to £2 million, depending on the scope and length of your project.
Enterprise Funding
Enterprise grants are usually focused on smaller businesses and new start-ups, with smaller funding amounts of between £5,000 and £25,000 available. These grants are almost as much about job creation and business growth as they are about the actual R&D work being carried out. If you’re an SME looking to branch out and add more people to the payroll, then looking into enterprise grants could be the best option for you.
Corporate Funding
Sometimes, large international companies such as Shell or Pfizer will give grant funding to smaller businesses to help them achieve their innovative project. However, your R&D will have to benefit them in some way and they may want a say in how the project is carried out. While that takes some aspects of your work out of your control, the money involved can be substantial, so funding from a corporation is still worth considering.
Which funding route is right for your business?
This can be a tricky question to answer, as all three have their advantages and disadvantages. The real key to winning a bid for funding is to tailor your application and ensure you’re ticking all the right boxes as far as the criteria are concerned. That means you can’t take a ‘one size fits all’ approach to your applications, and tailoring them does take time. There’s no point in applying for anything and everything, as you have to match your business to the right competition and then put in the work to present your case in a good light.
That’s where Claim Capital can help, we know that time is money and you have more important things to do than stress over application paperwork. By outsourcing your grant applications to us, we handle all the complexities of the system, match you to the right competitions and leave you free to focus on your business. Over you have a much better change of winning with a team of professional grant writers behind you. To learn more about how we could help you write winning grant applications, simply get in touch with us today.