Guidance

How to apply for civil aerospace funding as an SME

The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) SME Programme offers funding for civil aerospace research and technology development in the UK. You must read this guidance before you apply.

From:
Department for Business and Trade
Published
14 November 2023
Last updated
19 April 2024 — See all updates

Overview of the ATI small and medium sized enterprises (SME) Programme  

The ATI SME Programme offers funding for research and technology development in the UK to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace.

The ATI Strategic Programme received £685 million from the government for the financial years 2022 to 2023 through to 2024 to 2025, an increase of £235 million on the previous 3 year period. Industry  will provide co-funding, taking the total to more than £1 billion. Funding for the ATI SME Programme will come from this budget.

This competition is designed to maximise benefits to SMEs and support and encourage industrial investment into the aerospace sector and its supply chain, through the funding of innovative and high impact projects.

This programme is coordinated and managed by:

  • Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
  • Innovate UK (IUK)
  • Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI)

All 3 organisations work in partnership. Together they deliver a portfolio of projects to meet the objectives and priorities of the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy.

The roles of the 3 partner organisations

DBT is accountable for the programme budget and decides which projects will be funded with government resources. DBT carries out a value for money and policy assessment on each eligible application.

IUK is the funding and contracting authority for the programme. IUK provides independent assessment and evaluation of application submissions, monitors live projects, and manages the distribution of grant funding.

The ATI creates the technology strategy for the UK aerospace sector. The ATI reviews applications for strategic alignment.

ATI SME Programme assessment overview

The ATI SME Programme is a 2-stage competition:

  • stage 1: outline stage
  • stage 2: full stage application

As the budget holder, DBT makes funding decision for the ATI SME Programme. This means DBT decides which projects pass the outline stage and which projects are funded following the full stage application assessment.

The outline stage opens 3 times per year and is assessed by the ATI only. ATI will make recommendations to DBT. Based on ATI’s recommendation DBT decides which projects proceed to the full stage application. There is no funding in stage 1. All funding will be awarded in stage 2.

Only successful applicants from the outline stage will be invited to apply for the full stage application which is assessed separately by IUK, the ATI, and DBT.

If your full stage application is successful, your application will progress to final approval through DBT ministers. Contracts will be issued by IUK.

The following sections include information on how to apply, the assessment process. We strongly recommend that you read this before beginning your application.

Important information before you start an application

Research categories

The ATI SME Programme will only fund industrial research projects (as defined in the categories of research and development section of the IUK general guidance).

General eligibility guidance

Eligibility guidance in any current competition brief takes precedence over guidance here, for the purposes of entering that competition.

To lead a project your organisation must:

We accept both collaborative and single applicant led projects but encourage collaboration.

You can find more information on the different types of organisation. Research organisations cannot lead.  

 The programme does not fund projects that:

  • do not have a primary exploitation in the civil aerospace sector
  • are defined as fundamental research, feasibility studies or experimental development

We recognise that technologies can be exploited in multiple sectors. However, to get funding your primary exploitation route  or application must be in civil aerospace.

Stage 1: outline proposal - how to apply

Help from the ATI before you submit your outline proposal 

Before submitting your application, you can engage with the ATI to support the development of the outline proposal. Your project will be assigned a project lead from the ATI technology team to monitor the progress of the application and provide development feedback, where appropriate. It is entirely optional whether you decide to use this service and does not guarantee success at this stage.

Meetings with the ATI will provide an opportunity to discuss the requirements of the outline stage application and give feedback on any parts of the project which require further development. At no point will the ATI project lead give a preliminary indication of project evaluation against the assessment criteria. At all times the responsibility for the application and its completion rests with the lead applicant and its partners.

The ATI can only provide development feedback on completed draft outline stage applications, allowing at least ten working days for a response. We cannot guarantee that draft applications received within a shorter time frame will be reviewed or feedback provided.

To submit a draft application visit the ATI SME Programme homepage.

Before you submit your application

You must submit applications to stage 1 of the competition on the ATI website. If you are successful at stage 1, applications to stage 2 will be submitted through the Innovation Funding Service.

Before submitting via the ATI website, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

  • the application is completed and submitted before the deadline
  • that all the information provided in the application is correct
  • your application meets the eligibility and scope criteria
  • all sections of the application are marked as complete
  • if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You cannot edit your application once submitted.

What we will ask you

There are 2 parts in the outline stage application:

Part 1 - application details

Part 2 - outline stage presentation

Part 1

Application details 

In this section you will be asked to provide background information for your application. This is not assessed.

Project details

This includes the following: project title, start date and duration. We also request your total project costs (includes ineligible costs) and total grant request (only eligible costs).

Lead applicant’s contact details

The lead applicant is the main point of contact for the project. In this section we request the name and email address for a representative of the lead applicant’s company who is responsible for submitting the application.

Location of lead company

You will be required to enter the postcode for the location of the company site where the majority of the project work will take place for the lead company.

Project team

List the organisations which you will work with on your project. Give the name, location, and email address of the key point of contact from each organisation.

Project summary (max 200 words)

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

ATI Framework Agreement

All applicants to the Small Business Programme must read and sign the ATI Framework Agreement. To avoid delays later in the process we recommend doing so as early as possible, but it must be completed no later than 30 days after Full Stage Application notification. This link will take you to our secure Adobe Sign page where you can read and sign the ATI Framework Agreement. Your digital signature will be reviewed by the ATI team, and you will receive confirmation via email once the validation process is complete.

Part 2

Outline stage presentation

You must submit a copy of your presentation as a PDF and no larger than 10MB in size. Please note that the copy of the presentation submitted must be the same as the one used during your outline stage panel day.

Presentation document rules:

  • no more than 10 slides, including any annexes
  • font must be Arial
  • minimum font sizes:
    • title slide and section header – Size 36
    • content slide titles – size 28
    • body text – 14
    • captions and references – 10
  • file format- pptx
  • slide aspect ratio – widescreen

If more than 10 slides are submitted, they will not form part of the assessment. The presentation duration is strictly 25 minutes and additional time will not be allocated.

Your presentation must address the following:

Technology

Demonstrate project alignment with ATI’s Technology Strategy and explain the aircraft-level benefits.

  • how does the technology help to deliver the ATI technology strategy roadmaps?
  • describe the technology benefits (for example, cost, weight, performance, safety, sustainability, etc)
  • how does the technology compare to current market solutions and where possible known competitor research and development (R&D) solutions?

What challenges the technology will address? - what is the market need? - why is this technology required?

What is the key enabling technology that is being developed? - describe the technology developed on the project - explain the innovation step

Exploitation and economic impact

What are the routes to market and business opportunities?

  • who are the customers for the technology developed?
  • what engagement has there been with end-users to date with respect to the exploitation of this technology? What is the timeline for implementation?
  • describe the route to market and how it will be implemented
  • state the addressable market size for the technology

What benefits the technology will deliver for the UK?

  • does the project create jobs or safeguard jobs?
  • is there going to be any follow-on investment?

Outline stage panel guidance

After submitting your application, the ATI will carry out an eligibility check to determine if your project is in the scope of the competition. Only projects that are in scope will be invited to present their application to the panel. If your project is not in scope, you will be told why but will not receive any further feedback on the application.

You will be invited to present your application to the panel on one of the published panel dates. The panel will include a chair and a moderator. The presentations will be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams.

You are responsible for ensuring your availability to present your application to the panel on the published panel dates and have access to suitable IT equipment.

Presentation to the Panel

  • the project lead must attend the Panel and lead the presentation
  • no more than 3 members of the consortium, including the project lead, can attend the Panel session
  • you will be invited to an hour’s long meeting. From that hour, you will be allocated 25 minutes for your presentation
  • an additional 15 minutes is allocated for questions and answers

See an example of an indicative meeting agenda:

Agenda item Attendees Duration
Welcome and introductions All 5 mins
Project presentation All 25 mins
Questions and answers All 15 mins
Panel feedback and assessment Panel only * 15 mins

*Applicants will be asked to leave the meeting.

Assessment process and feedback

Your project will be assessed on the following criteria:

  • your project’s alignment to the UK aerospace technology strategy
  • the proposed technology and innovation
  • the strength of your business and market case
  • benefits of your project to the UK

The ATI will make recommendations to the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). DBT is responsible for the decision to progress your outline stage application to stage 2.

If your project is successful, you will be invited by IUK to apply to the next full stage application stage of the competition via the Innovation Funding Service.  To defer entry to the next full stage batch, contact ATI to confirm you would like to defer entry. You must apply to one of the next 2 full stage competitions, or you will need to reapply to the outline stage.

If your outline stage application is not successful, you will be given the opportunity to discuss your feedback with the ATI should you wish to. Details of how this can be arranged will be provided in the feedback document. You will be able to submit the same project proposal up to a maximum of 3 times.

The outcome of your application and feedback on your outline stage application will be provided on the published notification date from the ATI.

Stage 2: full stage application - how to apply

How to apply to a competition via the Innovation Funding Service

The Innovation Funding Service (IFS) is an online application process. You need to create an account in the service to start an application, or sign into your existing account.

Applications are separated into sections, which all need to be completed to submit your application. You cannot submit an application unless you have correctly completed each section.

When you submit your application, the process cannot be reversed.

Collaborating in the Innovation Funding Service

Many IUK competitions require organisations to work with others on collaborative research and development projects.

The collaboration rules are stated in the eligibility section of the guidance for each funding opportunity. This section outlines the different roles of organisations who intend to work collaboratively in completing an application and setting up a project on the service.

Lead applicants

The lead applicant represents the lead organisation for the application. As the lead applicant you will be responsible for:

  • starting an application.

  • adding people from your organisation to the application and removing them
  • adding partner organisations, you wish to collaborate with, where applicable, and removing them
  • assigning questions
  • answering questions relevant to you
  • submitting the application before the deadline
  • accepting the terms and conditions on behalf of your organisation
  • uploading permitted appendices

You should only add people who are directly involved in the project. If your project wants to change who is leading the application, the new person will need to start a new application and the proposal would have to be restarted as an outline stage proposal.

Partner organisations

Partner organisations are invited to join an application by the lead applicant. They will receive an email invitation from the Innovation Funding Service and will need to accept the invitation and create an account, or sign into an existing account.

As a partner you are responsible for:

  • completing project costs and finance details for your organisation
  • inviting other people from your organisation to help with the application
  • answering questions assigned to you by the lead applicant
  • accepting the terms and conditions for your organisation

Partners can see:

  • all application questions and answers
  • their own organisation’s finance details
  • the application finance summary

Neither the lead applicant nor partners can view the financial details of any of the other organisations involved in the application. They can only view their own.

Partners are not able to:

  • start an application
  • invite people from other organisations
  • assign question
  • submit the application

We will share information with other authorised parties in order to deliver our public tasks and functions. This includes our close network of affinity partners with an interest in research or dual use technology.

Further information beyond delivery of our public tasks and functions will be subject to prior agreement with the applicant.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

This competition provides funding 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).

IUK 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. Read our general guidance 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.

If there are any changes to the above requirements that mean we need to change the terms of this competition, we will tell you as soon as possible.

Completing your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS)

If you are invited to apply to the full stage competition IUK will send you a link to the full stage competition in an email.

You must complete the application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

To complete the application, follow the competition guidance on IFS.

Detailed guidance is provided for each question. It is important to read this and ensure you stick to the word limit and appendix guidance.

Individual sections can be allocated to partner organisations or individuals for completion where required by the lead applicant.

The application is split into 3 sections:

  1. Project details.
  2. Application questions.
  3. Finances.

‘Project details’ includes:

  • application team
  • application details
  • equality, diversity, and inclusion
  • research category
  • project summary
  • public description
  • scope

’Application questions’ includes:

  • business opportunity
  • market
  • results (including exploitation plan)
  • benefits (including a ‘value for money spreadsheet’ to be assessed by DBT)
  • technical approach
  • innovation
  • risks
  • team and facilities
  • costs
  • added value to the UK
  • project partners location (not scored)
  • value for money questions (to be assessed by DBT)

‘Finances’ includes:

  • your finances
  • finances overview

Additional information including graphical information or diagrams can be submitted in the relevant IFS section as an appendix. Read the IFS question guidance for the eligible page limit. Pages exceeding this limit will not be assessed.

Help completing your full stage application from DBT

You can contact DBT via the ATI at competitions@ati.org.uk to:

  • clarify what information you need to provide.
  • request feedback on draft value for money returns.

DBT will prioritise requests for feedback based on the date received by them. Applicants are therefore advised to contact DBT as early as possible, and not later than 2 weeks before competition close.

DBT cannot guarantee that it will respond to all requests for feedback.

At no point will DBT give a preliminary indication of project evaluation against assessment criteria.

Full stage application evaluation

Applications for the ATI SME Programme are assessed by the 3 partner organisations in parallel:

  • DBT
  • IUK
  • ATI

These assessments are reviewed by the Programme Investment Board (PIB). The PIB typically meets 3 times per calendar year to review applications.

DBT is accountable for the ATI  SME Programme budget and decides which projects will be funded with government resources.

DBT full stage application evaluation

DBT carries out a value for money and policy assessment on each eligible application.

The value for money assessment considers whether ATI funding is necessary for the success of your project, that is, why private funding from a range of sources is not sufficient to make the project a success in the UK.

You must demonstrate why this is the case for your project by providing clear evidence of either financial constraints or alternative pathways for your project overseas.

It also looks at whether the benefits of the project, including benefits from job creation, safeguarding and ‘spillover’ benefits from the investment in R&D activity, are enough to justify the cost to the taxpayer. The value for money assessment is based on the answers to the questions in the application form and the MS Excel pro-forma (value for money workbook) that you must complete.

The value for money workbook should be downloaded from the relevant question in the application form. You must complete the form in full and upload as part of your application.

The ‘value for money questions’ are assessed by DBT as part of the overall value for money evaluation. These questions are there to give applicants enough space to explain the method and calculations behind the data provided on the grant requested and expected job impacts and further private investment.

Failure to submit a value for money return will make your application ineligible. Detailed guidance on how to complete each section is provided in the value for money template. It is important to read this and ensure you provide as much information as possible.

Following submission, you may be contacted by DBT who will ask you to clarify or submit additional information if an error or omission appears to have been made. This is to ensure a thorough and fair assessment.

The policy assessment is based on all the information submitted as part of your application and assesses the proposals fit with wider policy priorities.

IUK independent assessment

The IUK evaluation is based on the answers to the questions in the application form and all the attached appendices.

Applications are assessed by up to 5 independent assessors. The assessors can be from both business and academia.
All applications in a competition are assessed against the same set of scoring criteria. Assessors will provide written feedback for each scored question in the application. All applications are assessed on individual merit.

You will receive feedback on IFS for each scored question.

Your answers to ‘value for money questions’ is not scored by IUK independent assessors but may be used as supporting evidence.

IUK reserve the right to invite applicants to interview without providing any reasons. Refer to the competition brief for further information on interview.

ATI full stage evaluation

The ATI will conduct an evaluation of your full stage application based upon:

  • its alignment to the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy
  • fit with existing activity
  • the capability of project partners

The ATI evaluation is based on the answers to the questions in the application form and all the attached appendices.

The evaluation will consider the following criteria.

Market value

This includes the:

  • strength and validity of the business need and market opportunity
  • extent to which the delivery of this project provides UK competitive advantage.

Market risk

This includes the level of:

  • market risk involved in delivering the stated economic value
  • commitment to the exploitation within the UK

Technology value

This includes:

  • alignment with the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy
  • the credibility and viability of the approach
  • an evaluation of the potential to deliver innovation

Technology risk

This includes the:

  • match of technical capabilities and skills of the consortium
  • strength of the management structures and procedures, including project, technical, risk and innovation management

Programme Investment Board (PIB)

Each organisation DBT, ATI and IUK brings to the PIB their recommendations for funding based on their respective assessments of the full stage applications.

An application must receive a positive recommendation from all 3 assessments to be considered for funding. DBT is responsible for making the final decision as to which applications will receive funding. Applications selected for DBT funding are sent to DBT ministers for their approval.

There are 2 possible outcomes:

  1. The application is recommended to proceed to the next stage of project pre-contracting checks. This might be subject to meeting further conditions, including affordability.
  2. The application is not recommended to proceed to the next stage of project pre-contracting checks.

Feedback on full stage application

You will receive an email notification from DBT following the PIB meeting. This email includes feedback from DBT, the ATI and the IUK independent assessment.

If your project is recommended for funding, the email from DBT will also include any additional conditions which need to be met. You may also be asked to arrange a meeting with DBT and the ATI to discuss the benefits the project will deliver to the UK. Following this you will be asked to submit a letter to DBT confirming the benefits. This will need to be agreed with DBT before the Grant Offer Letter (GOL) is issued.

If you are unsuccessful at this stage, you will be invited to set up a meeting with the programme partners to discuss your feedback.

More detailed feedback on your full stage application is available upon request from each organisation (DBT, ATI and IUK) and relates to their individual assessment.

The detailed IUK independent assessor feedback for your written application is accessible from the Innovation Funding Service dashboard.

The feedback from the IUK independent assessors on your written application is not available to the ATI or DBT. If you wish to discuss it with these organisations, you will need to share it in advance of your meeting.

DBT approval to proceed with the contracting process

Following the Programme Investment Board, DBT will seek ministerial approval for projects that have been recommended for funding.

What you must do prior to contract

Sign into your Innovation Funding Service dashboard which will provide full details under ‘Set up your project’. Complete the ‘Project details’ and ‘Project team’ sections within 30 days.

The offer of funding is conditional and subject to the satisfactory completion of a finance and pre-contract check by IUK, project document approval by your IUK assigned Monitoring Officer (MO) and ministerial approval.

Finance checks will start once written approval has been received by IUK from DBT that ministerial approval has been received.

From this point you have 90 days to complete the rest of the project set up steps.

IUK will pose all queries to you via your IFS dashboard which will notify the appropriate finance or project contact by email. Please ensure these are addressed by yourself and any collaborators in a timely manner. Once all queries are resolved the lead will be able to upload a spend profile which should be in project quarters and reflect agreed eligible costs per quarter.

To allow your project to start promptly, please ensure that your exploitation plan, collaboration agreement and second level plan are submitted via your dashboard as early as possible. You must also ensure all partners have signed the ATI Framework Agreement and you have submitted a value for money letter to DBT, if required.

Upon satisfactory completion of all the above, IUK will issue your Grant Offer Letter (GOL) which must be signed by each partner, uploaded to IFS, and approved before your project is able to start.

Project pre-contract checks process

Before your project can begin IUK will need additional details and documents from you. Submitting documents in a timely fashion will speed up the pre-contract checks and contracting process.

Pre-contracting documents checklist

We recommend you start to consider the collaboration agreement early in the process to allow sufficient time to agree it with your project partners.

Please refer to the quick checklist below to see what you will need to complete before contracting. These documents can be submitted to the appropriate party before finance checks begin:

Publicising your project

Your notification email from DBT provides the ATI SME Programme communication guidance on when you can publicise ATI SME Programme funding of your project.

Publicising projects is not permitted before the GOL is signed and returned unless agreed with DBT.

The Lead Partner is responsible for ensuring that all members of the consortium and their press offices comply with this restriction.

IUK frequently publicises the results of competitions and applications on their website soon after a project is contracted. The public description you provided of your project will be used for publicity purposes without further consultation with you, and by accepting this funding, you agree to these terms.

Monitoring of your project

IUK in-project monitoring.

Monitoring Service Provider (MSP)

You will be assigned an MSP who will work with you throughout the project. They will help to make sure your project complies with the terms and conditions of the competition. They are not responsible for project management. The outputs of quarterly monitoring reports may be shared with the DBT and the ATI.

Claims and auditing

Costs are only eligible if they are incurred and paid between the project start and end dates. Claims may be subject to an independent audit. You must submit an independent accountant’s report (IAR) with your final claim. All participants must provide evidence to support each claim made.

Post project monitoring

IUK:

At project close out all participants in a project are required to complete the ATI Programme close out form. The completed form will be shared with DBT. In addition, there may be periodic reviews and requests to participate in case studies.

DBT:

DBT operates a post-project monitoring framework to gather important evidence on how the programme is delivering on its objectives. Following project close out and for up to 10 years, DBT will likely make periodic requests for data linked to project exploitation plans and the information provided through the value for money evaluation.

ATI:

The ATI may participate in project close out reviews to assess strategic impact. The ATI will also require case studies to be prepared for completed projects.

Contact us

A variety of help is available to competition applicants.

Contact IUK for queries relating to eligibility criteria or the Innovation Funding Service.

Innovate UK

Email support@iuk.ukri.org

Telephone 0300 321 4357

Call to speak to an adviser.

Calls are free from landlines and most mobile numbers. Find out more about call charges and freephone numbers.

Contact the Aerospace Technology (ATI) For queries relating to:

  • the value for money and policy evaluation
  • requesting a meeting with DBT
  • the strategic and technology suitability of your application

Aerospace Technology Institute

Make a complaint

If you have a complaint about the ATI SME Programme, send us your complaint or comments:

Updates to this page

Published 14 November 2023
Last updated 19 April 2024 + show all updates

  1. Link to ATI - SME Programme Agreement updated.

  2. First published.

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