Notice

Competition guidance: open programme round 2 (2016)

Updated 1 February 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This notice was withdrawn on 21 September 2017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	5 December 2016
Competition briefing event	2pm Thursday 8 December 2016
Final date for registration	Midday 1 February 2017
Submission of the full application including finance forms, appendices and Je-S forms)	Midday 8 February 2017
Decision to applicants	by end of April 2017

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

2. Funding

There is up to £15 million of funding available from Innovate UK. This is for research and development projects that tackle the technical challenges described in the brief for this competition.

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

3. Requirements and eligibility

• you may be eligible to receive different rates of funding. This depends on the type and size of your organisation and the activity that you are doing in the project. In your application form, please select the primary type of research that you will be doing in the project and calculate the amount of grant you wish to claim. This should be in line with the Innovate UK funding rules
• research organisations can participate in projects as collaborators. The level of total research participation is set at a maximum of 30% of total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation, this maximum will be shared between them
• all projects must be business led
• only UK based companies and research organisations are eligible to apply
• if an application is unsuccessful, you can use the feedback received to re-apply for the same project once more only. This can be into another round of this competition or another competition
• any one company can only be the lead partner in 1 application and be involved in up to 3 others
• where a company has had a previous grant(s) as the lead or sole company, no new awards will be made to that company if no demonstrably substantial efforts have been made to exploit previous grant(s) as described in the exploitation section of the application for the previous grant(s):
  • this will be decided by the sector team concerned using evidence from monitoring officer reports and other sources which will be documented
  • this decision will be made by at least 3 sector team members collectively
  • the decision will be communicated in writing to the company by the lead technologist dealing with the new grant application
  • the decision will not be contestable and Innovate UK will not enter into subsequent correspondence

If you have a current Smart programme funded project which has its final close out meeting after midday 8 February 2017, then you are not eligible to apply for this round of the open competition.

4. Competition process

For this competition, Innovate UK will adopt a portfolio approach. This is to make sure that the strategic criteria described in the competition brief, is met for all projects considered to be above the quality threshold. This will be as a result of independent expert assessment.

• submitted applications will be reviewed to make sure that they are in scope for the competition
• only applications that meet the scope of the competition will be sent for assessment
• applications in scope will be assessed by up to 5 external assessors who are experts in the area of innovation identified in your application
• assessors will score applications consistently and in line with scoring matrices. They will provide written feedback for each marked question
• applications will be ranked in descending order. Applications are scored over a quality threshold which is reviewed against Innovate UK’s strategy, to build a portfolio of projects that:
  • are high quality
  • reflect a range as described in the scope and spread of short (up to 12 months), medium (up to 24 months) and long (up to 36 months) project durations that fit the funding available
  • target opportunities across a range of industrial sectors, technologies, themes and priorities
  • demonstrate sufficient innovation, potential return on investment and degree of technical risk
  • demonstrate value for money, include the potential impact of the project relative to its cost, and the cost of other projects under consideration
• the lead applicant will be notified of the funding decision
• all applications in scope for the competition will receive assessor feedback. In addition, those projects scoring over a quality threshold will receive extra feedback from the Innovate UK portfolio review. The extra feedback will cover why the application was or was not funded

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

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 forms for this competition.

Please note: Only finance forms named ’Project Finance Form Dec 2016.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.

Important: 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 or your lead partner should submit:

• your application form with your unique application number for this competition (mandatory)
• project appendices as pdf documents, labelled with your application number
• project finance forms for every non-academic partner in your project (mandatory)
• Je-S submission pdf output document for every academic partner in your project, if any (mandatory for submissions with academic partners)

IMPORTANT: Submissions made that omit mandatory information will not be sent for assessment

Scope check: Only applications that meet the eligibility criteria and scope of the competition will be sent for assessment. 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.

Assessment: Once the competition submission deadline is reached, your application is sent for assessment.

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

Feedback: We will give feedback to successful and unsuccessful applicants approximately 4 weeks after you have been notified of the decision. The lead applicant can access the feedback by signing into the secure website where you uploaded your application documents. It is the responsibility of the lead partner to communicate the feedback with the rest of the consortium. No additional feedback can be provided and there will be no further discussion on the application.

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
• question 1: need or challenge
• question 2: approach and innovation
• question 3: team and resources
• question 4: market awareness
• question 5: outcomes and route to market
• question 6: wider impacts
• question 7: project management
• question 8: risks
• question 9: additionality
• question 10: costs and value for money
• 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.

Additionally:

• 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 total answer to the 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 speed up sustainable economic growth for the UK.

In some cases, we may share the public description of your project with other potential funding bodies, for example, agencies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.These bodies 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
Theme	Please enter the corresponding number from the list below
	Theme Number	Project Theme
	1	Creative Industries - Media
	2	Creative Industries - Computer Games
	3	Creative Industries - Social Media
	4	Creative Industries - Publishing
	5	Creative Industries - General
	6	Digital Services
	7	Electronics, Photonics and Electrical Systems
	8	Information and Communication Technology
	9	Nanoscale Technologies
	10	Materials
	11	Biosciences – Industrial Biotechnology
	12	Biosciences - Nutrition
	13	Biosciences - ‘omics
	14	Biosciences - General
	15	Healthcare - Medical devices in-vivo
	16	Healthcare - Medical devices ex-vivo
	17	Healthcare - Diagnostics in vivo
	18	Healthcare - Diagnostics in vitro
	19	Healthcare - Therapeutic Development
	20	Healthcare - E-health/M-health
	21	Agriculture and Food
	22	Manufacturing
	23	Engineering
	24	Environmental Sustainability - Resource Efficiency
	25	Environmental Sustainability - Environmental Technologies
	26	Environmental Sustainability - General
	27	Energy Generation and Supply - Fuel Cells & Hydrogen
	28	Energy Generation and Supply - Renewable Energy
	29	Energy Generation and Supply - Nuclear
	30	Energy Generation and Supply - General
	31	Built Environment - Low Impact Buildings
	32	Built Environment - General
	33	Transport - Aerospace
	34	Transport - Road - Low Carbon Vehicles
	35	Transport - Road - other vehicles
	36	Transport - Marine
	37	Transport - Rail
	38	Transport - Integrated Transport
	39	Space Technologies
	40	General – Not listed above
Research category	Please select from the dropdown list
Project timescales	Enter the estimated start date and its planned duration. These are indicative at this stage and are not guaranteed
(Lead) organisation name	Enter the full registered name of the (lead) organisation for the project. If you are not in a consortium application, these will be your organisation details. Please note that the lead organisation will be the main point of contact between Innovate UK and the project team
(Lead) 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 and assessors only. It will not be used for any public dissemination. It should cover, in brief:

• need or challenge: The business need, technological challenge or market opportunity to be targeted
• approach and innovation: The approach to be taken and how this will improve on current state-of-the-art
• outcomes: The difference the project will make to the competitiveness and productivity of the partners involved

Public description of the project (not scored)

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.

6.2 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
• or services
• articulate a clear and anticipated growth impact for the business(s) leading to a significant return on investment (ROI)

7. Competition questions

All questions apply to all project partners and are scored out of 10 marks.

7.1 Question 1: Need or challenge

What is the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity behind your innovation?

• describe the main motivation for the project; the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity
• describe the nearest current state-of-the-art (including those near-market/in development) and its limitations
• describe any work you have already done to respond to this need. For example is the project focused on developing an existing capability or building a new one?
• identify the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural and/or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity (for example, incoming regulations). Our Horizons tool can help here:
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

7.2 Question 2: Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

• explain how you propose to respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified
• explain how it will improve on the nearest current state-of-the-art identified
• indicate where the focus of the innovation will be in the project (application of existing technologies in new areas, development of new technologies for existing areas or a totally disruptive approach) and the freedom you have to operate
• explain how this project fits with your current product/service lines/offerings
• explain how it will make you more competitive
• describe the nature of the outputs you expect from the project (for example, report, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design) and how these will take you closer to targeting the need, challenge or opportunity identified
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11
  In a separate appendix named ‘AppendixQ2(application number)’ you may submit in pdf format up to 2 pages to provide graphics/diagrams/an image to explain the technology/product/service innovation.

7.3 Question 3: Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

• describe the roles, skills and relevant experience of all members of the project team in relation to the approach you will be taking
• describe the resources, equipment and facilities required for the project and how you will access them
• provide details of any vital external parties, including sub-contractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
• (if collaborative) describe the current relationships between the project partners and how these will change as a result of the project
• highlight any gaps in the team that will need to be filled
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

In a separate appendix named ‘AppendixQ3(application number)’ you may submit in pdf format up to 4 pages to describe the skills and experience of the main people who will be working on the project.

7.4 Question 4: Market awareness

Please note: purely market research (for instance proof of market) project applications do not need to answer this question

What does the market you are targeting look like?

• specify the market(s) (domestic and/or international) you will be targeting in the project and any other potential markets
• for the target market(s), describe:
  • the size of the target market(s) for the project outcome(s), backed up by appropriate references where available
  • the structure and dynamics of the market (eg customer segmentation), together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
  • the main supply/value chains and business models in operation (and any barriers to entry)
  • the current UK position in targeting this market
• for highly innovative projects, where the market may be unexplored, explain:
  • what the route to market could or might be
  • what its size might be
  • how the project will seek to explore the market potential
• for other markets, briefly describe the size and main features of those
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

7.5 Question 5: Outcomes and route to market

Purely market research (for instance proof of market) projects must address as much of this question as possible. Many points below can be addressed even if the existence of a tangible market is not yet clear)

How do you propose to grow your business and increase your productivity into the long term as a result of the project?

• describe your current position in the market(s) and supply/value chains outlined (will you be extending or establishing your market position?)
• describe your target customers and/or end-users, and the value proposition to them (why would they use/buy it?)
• describe your route to market
• tell us how you are going to profit from the innovation (increased revenues or cost reduction)
• explain how the innovation will impact your productivity and growth (in the short and long-term)
• describe how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example through know-how, patenting, designs, changes to business model
• outline your strategy for targeting the other markets identified during or after the project
• for any research organisation activity in the project, outline your plans to disseminate project research outputs over a reasonable timescale
• if you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities, describe how
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

In the “projected growth” tab of each project finance form, please complete the following for each business and non-academic partner. This information is not passed to assessors.

• show your current annual turnover, profit, exports and research and development (R&D) spend (as a percentage of turnover if appropriate) and employment (in full-time equivalent or FTEs). Tell us what proportion of this relates to the project area
• show your forecasts for annual turnover, profit, exports and R&D spend (as a percentage of turnover if appropriate) and employment (in FTEs) for 1, 3 and 5 or more years after project completion. Tell us what proportion of this relates to the project area

7.6 Question 6: Wider impacts

What impact might this project have outside the project team?

• identify, and where possible measure, the economic benefits from the project to those outside the project (customers, others in the supply chain, broader industry and the UK economy) such as productivity increases and import substitution
• identify, and where possible measure, any expected social impacts, either positive or negative on, for example:
  • quality of life
  • social inclusion/exclusion
  • jobs (safeguarded, created, changed, displaced)
  • education
  • public empowerment
  • health and safety
  • regulations
  • diversity
  • any expected impact on government priorities
• identify, and where possible measure, any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
• identify any expected regional impacts of the project
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

7.7 Question 7: Project management

How will you manage the project effectively?

• outline the main work packages of the project, indicating the relevant research category and lead partner assigned to each, and the total cost of each one
• describe your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms that will be used to ensure a successful project outcome. Highlight your approach to managing the most innovative aspects of the project
• outline the management reporting lines
• outline your project plan in sufficient detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

In a separate appendix named ’AppendixQ7(application number)’ you can submit a project plan/Gantt chart up to 2 A4 pages in length in pdf format

7.8 Question 8: Risks

What are the main risks for this project?

• identify the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks, highlighting the most significant ones (providing a risk register if appropriate)
• explain how these risks will be mitigated
• list any project inputs on the critical route to completion (such as resources, expertise, data sets)
• is the output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues, etc, if so how will you manage this?
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11.

In a separate appendix named ’AppendixQ8(application number)’ you can submit a risk register of up to 2 A4 pages in length in pdf format.

7.9 Question 9: Additionality

Describe the impact that an injection of public funding would have on this project.

• tell us if this project could go ahead in any form without public funding and if so, the difference the public funding would make (such as faster to market, more partners, reduced risk)
• describe the likely impact of the project on the business of the partners involved
• tell us why you are not able to wholly fund the project from your own resources or other forms of private-sector funding (what would happen if the application is unsuccessful)
• explain how this project would change the nature of R&D activity the partners would undertake (and related spend)
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

7.10 Question 10: Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

• justify the total project cost and the grant being requested in terms of the project goals
• explain how the partners will finance their contributions to the project
• explain how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer. How does it compare to what you would spend your money on otherwise?
• justify the balance of costs and grant across the project partners
• justify any sub-contractor costs and why they are critical to the project
• your response to this question should be no longer than one page using font ariel 11

7.11 Other funding from public sector bodies

If you have included one or more entries in column 7 of the finance summary table (on the following page), please provide:

• the name(s) of the bodies
• the name of the programme or scheme from which the funds are provided
• the fund amounts

8. Finance summary

This table lists the total eligible project costs by participant. 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 names of the (lead) organisation and any participants in the project consortium (organisation names as noted in Companies House)
Column 2 Organisation registration number	Companies should provide the Company Registration Number (as noted in Companies House). Universities/HEIs should enter their RC number/charitable status/legal entity registration number etc
Column 3 Enterprise category	Please select your enterprise category. SME definition is based on the EU definition Medium sized: Headcount <250: Turnover <=50 million euros or balance sheet total <=43 million euros Small: Headcount <50: Turnover <=10 million euros or balance sheet total <=10 million euros Micro: Headcount <10: Turnover <=2 million euros or balance sheet total <=2 million euros
Column 4 Postcode where majority of work will be done	Please provide the postcode of each organisation participating in the project.
Column 5 Contribution to the project by each organisation (£)	Please list the total contribution to be made to the project by each organisation.
Column 6 Funding sought from Innovate UK	Please enter the funding sought from Innovate UK for each participant organisation for this competition.
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 for each participants. This is the sum of columns 5, 6 and 7 and will be entered automatically.
Bottom row Total (£)	The total of each column will be entered automatically.

9. Finance form

Each non-academic participant in your project must provide a project finance form using the template “Project finance form Dec 2016” which is available on the FTP site. This must be submitted with the application form by the lead applicant. Each finance form provides a detailed breakdown on each participant’s total eligible project costs listed in your finance summary table.

10. Project appendices

You may include appendices for questions 2, 3, 7 and 8 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 Portable Document Format (pdf)
• be legible at 100% zoom/magnification
• display prominently the ‘application number’ as in the filename of the application form

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