Notice

Competition guidance: investment accelerator pilot

Updated 17 May 2017

This notice was withdrawn on 21 September 2017

This competition is no longer open. Search current funding opportunities.

1. Dates and deadlines

Competition opens	8 May 2017
Competition briefing event	15 May 2017
Final date for registration	Midday 28 June 2017
Submission of the full application including finance forms and appendices deadline	Midday 5 July 2017
Applicants informed whether they have scored above the Innovate UK quality threshold	4 August 2017
Feedback to applicants	7 August 2017
Phase 1 heads of terms reached	by 29 September 2017
Applicants informed of entry to phase 2	2 October 2017
Phase 2 heads of terms reached	by 27 October 2017
Decision to applicants	by 10 November 2017
Deadline for completion of executed contract	by 31 December 2017

Please read the full competition scope before you make your application.

Note: ‘Heads of terms’ is defined as a document which sets out in reasonable details, the basis on which the investor partner proposes to invest in the applicant. At a high level, it sets out the terms of the investment contract to be entered into by the applicant and the investor partner.

‘Completion’ is defined as completion of an executed investment contract.

2. Funding

There is up to £8.5 million of funding available: £6 million from Innovate UK and up to £2.5 million in private equity investment. This is for technical feasibility study projects that tackle the technical challenges described in the brief for this competition.

Stream 1: infrastructure systems. Projects with eligible costs of up to £150,000 and 3 to 12 months in duration. There is up to £3 million of grant funding and £1.25 million of private equity investment available for these types of project.

Stream 2: health and life sciences. Projects with eligible costs of up to £150,000 and 3 to 12 months in duration. There is up to £3 million of grant funding and £1.25 million of private equity investment available for these types of project.

Please read our funding rules guidance for more information on the different categories of funding and the rules around our state aid framework.

Innovate UK and our investor partners are committed to maintaining strict confidentiality of applications. This confidentiality is managed through substantial non-disclosure agreements and a memorandum of understanding between Innovate UK and individual investor partners.

3. Requirements and eligibility

Application:

• any 1 business can only submit 1 application to this competition
• submissions with incomplete or missing finance forms will not be considered eligible
• submissions using the incorrect application form will not be considered eligible
• appendices which do not align with the requirements, will result in the application not being sent for Innovate UK assessment and therefore not being considered for grant funding
• all submission documents must be submitted in the correct file format as explained in this document, any documents in an incorrect format will not be sent for assessment
• you must select 1 preferred investor partner only. Applications that do not select an investor partner will not be considered for funding
• only applications that explicitly agree entry into phase 2 will be considered by all investors
• if an application is unsuccessful, you can use the feedback received to re-apply for the same project once more into another competition within scope
• if you have been awarded previous grants as the lead or sole company, no new awards will be made if we feel that you have not made a substantial effort to exploit these previous grants. This is detailed in the exploitation plan submitted in the applications for the previous grants. The decision will meet the following criteria:
• it will be decided by the sector team concerned using evidence from Monitoring Officer reports and other sources which will be documented
  • it will be made by at least 3 sector team members collectively
  • it will be communicated in writing to the company by the Innovation Lead dealing with the new grant application
  • it will not be contestable and Innovate UK will not enter into subsequent correspondence

Applicant:

• only UK based SMEs are eligible to apply
• micro and small businesses may claim up to 70% of their eligible project costs in grant funding; medium businesses may claim up to 60%
• investor partners will match fund the remaining 30% or 40% through equity investment or convertible loans. In each case, you must agree the remaining match funding with one of the listed investor partners. It must be new investment: the match funding cannot come from an existing investment. Nor can it come from the existing balance sheet of the applicant. If you already have investment from a listed investor you may still apply, but again, the match funding for the grant must be new money
• the programme will provide 100% of project costs. Funding will not be awarded to applications seeking grant only or investment only
• applications must be from a single applicant, the grant funding and investment cannot be split with partners or collaborators. You may work with subcontractors if required for your project
• research and technology organisations (RTOs) and universities may not apply, but spin out companies may apply

4. Competition process

For this competition, Innovate UK may adopt a portfolio approach. This is to make sure that the priority areas described in the competition brief are met for all projects considered to be above the quality threshold and that have been successful in reaching ‘heads of terms’ with an investor partner. This will be as a result of independent expert assessment and investor partner selection.

• submitted applications will be reviewed to make sure that they are in scope for the competition and they meet the eligibility criteria
• only applications that meet the scope of the competition and the eligibility criteria will be sent for assessment and considered for match funding by the investor partners
• applications in scope will be assessed by up to 5 external expert assessors, and will also be independently reviewed by investor partners
• Innovate UK assessors will score applications consistently and in line with scoring matrices. They will provide written feedback for each marked question
• applicants who score above the quality threshold in Innovate UK’s assessment and are also of interest to their chosen investor partner, will have until the end of phase 1 to reach ‘heads of terms’ with their chosen investor partner
• all applications in scope for the competition will receive Innovate UK assessor feedback
• applicants who score above the quality threshold in Innovate UK’s assessment but fail to reach ‘heads of terms’ by the end of phase 1, may be entered into phase 2 for all the investor partners to review. If you wish to have your application considered in phase 2 you must agree to its inclusion in your application form. Failure to do so will mean your application will only be reviewed by your chosen investor partner in phase 1 and will not be entered into phase 2
• applicants in phase 2 will have until the end of phase 2 to reach ‘heads of terms’ with one of the investor partners
• all applications that have scored above the quality threshold and have reached ‘heads of terms’ with an investor partner will be reviewed against the scope areas to build a portfolio of projects that:
  • are high quality
  • reflect a range of priority areas as described in the scope
• you will be notified of the funding decision by email
• a grant offer letter will not be provided until the applicant and the investor partner reach completion of an executed contract. This must be signed off by both parties by 31 December 2017
• investor partners may follow up with projects that did not meet Innovate UK’s quality threshold at their own discretion

5. How to apply

Before you apply into an Innovate UK competition, it is important to understand the whole application process. The information below is specific to this competition. In addition, please read our general guidance for applicants which will give information on:

• funding rules
• project costs
• state aid
• how to submit your application
• categories of research and development
• participation in a project

Registration: You should register via the competition page. You will receive an email acknowledgement of your registration followed by a second email up to 48 hours later. The second email will contain a username and password for our secure upload facility along with a unique application number and form.

Application: Once you have received your unique username and password, you can sign into the secure website to access the finance form for this competition.

Please note: Only finance forms named ’Project Finance Form May 2017.xls’ will be accepted into this competition. Previous versions of the project finance form will be ineligible. When you register for the competition you will have access to our secure site. You will be able to download the finance form from the public area of this site.

Appendices must conform to the guidance for this specific competition. Appendices which do not follow the guidance will result in ineligible applications that will not be sent for assessment.

Submit your documents: You should submit:

• your application form with your unique application number for this competition
• project appendices as pdf documents, labelled with your application number
• a project finance form

Scope check: Only applications that meet the eligibility criteria and scope of the competition will be sent for assessment and considered for match funding by the investor partners. You will be notified if your application is out of scope with a full explanation as to why. Innovate UK reserves the right to declare applications as out of scope.

Phase 1

Once the competition submission deadline is reached, your application is sent for assessment by Innovate UK’s external assessors. It is also sent to your preferred investor partner. Innovate UK and the investor partner will work independently from each other during the assessment process.

Innovate UK will notify the investor partners of the applications that score above the quality threshold. If your application is in this quality pool and the investor partner is interested in your application, they will work with you to try to reach ‘heads of terms’ by the end of phase 1.

‘Heads of terms’ is defined as a document agreed in principle between both the investor partner and the applicant. It sets out the terms of the investment contract if the applicant is successful in securing Innovate UK grant funding.

Template non-disclosure agreements are available from the Lambert toolkit. You may wish to use one of these templates when discussing your project with a potential investor partner.

Feedback: We will give feedback from the external Innovate UK assessors to successful and unsuccessful applicants. You can access the feedback by signing into the secure website where you uploaded your application documents. This feedback will also be shared with your preferred investor partner in phase 1 if you score above Innovate UK’s quality threshold. It will be shared with all investor partners if your application is included in phase 2.

No additional feedback can be provided and there will be no further discussion on the application.

Phase 2

If you are unsuccessful in reaching ‘heads of terms’ by the phase 1 deadline and if you have given your permission, your application will be entered into a pool for all the investor partners to review. Any investor partners who are interested in your application will work with you directly to try to reach ‘heads of terms’ by the end of phase 2.

Notification: We will notify you of the final outcome of your application on the date stated in the timeline.

6. The application form

This section explains the structure of the application form and offers guidance on what to answer in each question.

The structure is as follows:

• application details
• summary of proposed project
• public description of the project
• gateway question: scope
• questions 1 to 6
• other funding from public sector bodies
• finance summary table

Please make sure that you upload the final version of your application by the deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not upload a blank or incomplete application form.

• you can only use the application form provided. It contains specific information including a unique reference number for your project
• the application form contains specific fields. It is important that you complete each field and submit a fully completed form. Incomplete forms will be rejected
• the application form must not be altered, converted or saved as a different version of Microsoft Word
• the space provided in each field of the form is fixed. You must restrict your responses in each of the fields to the space provided. The typeface, font size and colour are predetermined and cannot be changed. Illustrations and graphics cannot be included in the application form.
• the light grey shaded fields are completed automatically from other information entered on the form, such as the total columns of a table. These cannot be overwritten
• you should be able to see your full answer to each question when looking at the application form in print view. Any text that cannot be seen in this view or when the form is printed will not be assessed

As part of our objective to stimulate and support UK innovation, we have established a close network of affinity partners. This list is made up of organisations that can help Innovate UK fund and support innovative businesses to accelerate sustainable economic growth for the UK.

In some cases, for both successful and unsuccessful applications, we may share the public description of your project with other potential funding bodies. This may be agencies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who may wish to contact you about providing funding or other support for your proposal.

Field	Guidance
Competition name	This field will show the full name of the Innovate UK competition to which the form applies. You do not need to enter anything here.
Document ID	This field is completed automatically.
Applicant number	This field is completed automatically and is the reference that you should use on all correspondence (this is the 5 or 6 digit number after the dash).
Application details
Project title	Enter the full title of the project.
Technology area	Please select from the drop down list. Innovate UK reserves the right to assign your application to a different technology area if the incorrect category is selected.
Preferred investor partner	Please select from the drop down list.
If you are unsuccessful in reaching heads of terms with your preferred investor partner, do you want your application to be entered into a pool for all investor partners to review?	Please select yes or no.
Project timescales	Enter the estimated start date and its planned duration. These are indicative at this stage and are not guaranteed.
Organisation name	Enter the full registered name of your organisation.
Organisation contact details	Enter the full name, postcode, email address and telephone number of the main point of contact between Innovate UK and the project.

6.1 Summary of proposed project (not scored)

Guidance

Please provide a short summary of the content and objectives of the project including what is innovative about it.

This summary is not scored but provides an introduction to your proposal for the benefit of Innovate UK staff, assessors and the investor partners. It will not be used for any public dissemination. It should cover, in brief:

• market opportunity: the business need, market size, how you will address that market and how you will access it
• approach and innovation: technological advantage compared to others and how this will improve on current state-of-the-art, IP position
• business model: how you will operate in the market and generate revenues?
• team: who are the key members of your management team?

6.2 Public description of the project (not scored)

Guidance

To comply with government practice on openness and transparency of public-funded activities, Innovate UK has to publish information relating to funded projects. Please provide a short description of your proposal in a way that will be understandable to the general public. Do not include any commercially confidential information, for example, intellectual property or patent details.

Please describe your project. Funding will not be provided to successful projects without this.

6.3 Gateway question: scope

Guidance

How does this application align with the specific competition scope?

• all applications must align with the specific competition scope criteria as described in the relevant competition brief
• to demonstrate alignment, you need to show that a clear majority of the project’s objectives and activities are aligned with the specific competition

7. Competition questions

7.1 Question 1: The idea (30 points)

You should:

• describe the opportunity you wish to address
• detail the potential impact of the solution being developed
• describe what is innovative about the approach or technology
• detail the previous work conducted in relation to the study or underpinning science relating to the area
• discuss the competitor landscape including relevant IP and how your idea will establish a competitive advantage
• state the specific issues you wish to address, why they are important, and what you believe is needed to successfully address them
• describe the size of the market opportunities that development of the study might open up and how you will access it
• describe your business model and how you will generate revenues
• if applicable, also state if and how the proposed solution has potential for wider impact across sectors or across multiple applications (such as technology platforms)

7.2 Question 2: The work plan (20 points)

You should:

• explain the project work plan including technical approaches and milestones
• describe the roles of individuals/any subcontractors
• identify interdependencies
• detail main risks, impact and mitigation strategy

In a separate appendix named ‘AppendixQ2-(application number)’ you can submit in pdf format, up to 2 pages to present a detailed Gantt Chart.

7.3 Question 3: The people (15 points)

You should describe the main people in your organisation and any subcontractors involved in the project. Include the key members of your management team, internal and external resources, their backgrounds and prior relevant experience.

7.4 Question 4: The deliverables (15 points)

You should describe the outputs of the project:

• what will be the deliverables
• assuming success, how will you take project deliverables forward after the project ends

7.5 Question 5: The business (10 points)

You should:

• describe the nature of your current business and outline your business plan including financing strategy
• explain how this project and its outcomes will add value to your business
• outline if existing shareholders or governing institutions are aware of and supportive of your application to this competition
• if applicable, explain your exit plan

In a separate appendix named ‘AppendixQ5-(application number)’ you can submit in pdf format up to 2 pages to present a business plan.

7.6 Question 6: Project costs and added value (10 points)

You should:

• provide a breakdown of costs aligned with tasks. Where possible describe how best value for money has been decided (for example, quotation comparisons)
• state why public funding is necessary for this project. For example why you cannot fund it yourself or how public funding allows you to undertake this project differently
• state why you are looking for private sector investment

8. Other funding from public sector bodies

If you have indicated other public funding in column 7 of the finance summary table (on the following page), please provide:

• the names of the bodies
• the name of the programme or scheme from which the funds are provided
• the fund amounts

9. Finance summary table

This table lists the total eligible project costs. Please note that only certain project costs are eligible for grant funding under UK state aid rules. See our project costs guidance for information on eligible project costs and how to complete the finance forms.

Column 1 Organisation name	Please provide the full name of your organisation (as noted in Companies House).
Column 2 Organisation registration number	You should provide the company registration number (as noted in Companies House).
Column 3 Enterprise category	Select your enterprise category. SME definition is based on the EU definition Medium sized: Headcount less than 250: Turnover less than 50 million euros or balance sheet total less than 43 million euros Small: Headcount less than 50: Turnover less than 10 million euros or balance sheet total less than 10 million euros Micro: Headcount less than 10: Turnover less than 2 million euros or balance sheet total less than 2 million euros
Column 4 Postcode where majority of work will be done	Please provide your postcode.
Column 5 Investment sought (£)	Please enter the investment you are seeking from the investor partner.
Column 6 Funding sought from Innovate UK (£)	Please enter the funding sought from Innovate UK.
Column 7 Other funding from public sector bodies	Please include any funding applied for separately for the project from any other public sector bodies and not as part of this competition. Funding from other public sector bodies might include other applications to research councils, other government departments, devolved administrations, other public sector organisations and some charities. The purpose of this column is to provide Innovate UK with information on the total public funding for the project.
Column 8 Total (£)	The total cost of the project. This is the sum of columns 5, 6 and 7 and will be entered automatically.

10. Finance form

You must provide a project finance form using the template project finance form, which is available on the FTP site. This must be submitted in Excel format with the application form. The finance form provides a detailed breakdown of your total eligible project costs. Please ensure that all total figures listed in your finance summary table match those stated in the form status tab within the project finance form.

The finance form will be shared with the investor partners but it will not be shared with the external assessors. Therefore please include all relevant financial information that you wish to share with assessors in your application form.

11. Project appendices

You may include appendices for questions 2 and 5 as described in the guidance for those questions. Any additional appendices submitted will not be sent for assessment. Applications submitted with incorrect appendices will be ineligible and the applications will not be sent for assessment.

In order that assessors can open and read the appendices, each appendix must:

• conform to the maximum length specifications stated for each question
• be submitted in pdf
• be legible at 100% zoom/magnification
• display prominently the application number as in the filename of the application form for example, ‘AppendixQ2-(application number eg.123456)’

Please do not submit appendices longer than the specified lengths. Assessors are instructed to only read appendices to the lengths specified in the guidance.