Innovate UK is launching a brand new series of grants worth £30 million to back innovative UK businesses in fast starting innovation and boosting the UK economy.
Innovate UK’s new series of Fast Start: Innovation grants will give hundreds of UK small and micro-businesses the opportunity to grow and realise their ideas faster.
These grants, of up to £50,000 each, will provide a fast way to boost cash flow, helping to propel those highly innovative ideas that have a clear route to commercialisation.
Grants will back innovations in one or more of the seven technology areas outlined in the government’s Innovation Strategy:
- advanced materials and manufacturing
- artificial intelligence, digital and advanced computing
- bioinformatics and genomics
- engineering biology
- electronics, photonics and quantum
- energy and environment technologies
- robotics and smart machine.
Projects must lead to new products, processes or services that are significantly ahead of others currently available, or propose an innovative use of existing products, processes or services. It can also involve a new or innovative business model.
Ideas must focus on either achieving net zero or self-driven healthcare, and how new technology can enable affordable, adoptable and investable innovations in these areas.
Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, said:
Innovate UK has listened carefully to innovative businesses across the UK, and the new Fast Start scheme is one of the actions that is being taken to help small businesses more rapidly realise the potential of their ideas.
Fast Start funding will help to develop new innovative products, processes, and services, in sectors that will be key to the UK’s future economic growth and productivity.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on 26th July 2022.
Find out more about the competition overview and how you can apply.
