S
simonread
- Original Poster
- #1
I made a posting here a couple of weeks ago about the DTI extending the grant for Investigating an Innovative Idea (III). As a registered mentor for the grant I received formal notification this afternoon that the grant will be extended for a further two years from April 2005 during which time the DTI hope they will gather sufficient evidence of the full economic benefit of the grant to allow decisions to be made about significant roll-out of the product.
Continuation of the Grant for Investigating an Innovative Idea as a pilot means that the budget for this product will continue to be limited. The DTI have carefully considered how they might manage the grant within the proposed budget and they have decided that they must raise the levels of project innovation and applicant additionality. Therefore for future applications, projects where the proposed innovation would fall into the area of industry good practice will no longer be eligible. Examples of this type of project include introducing a web presence, e-commerce, CRM, etc. Similarly, projects where an applicant has significant cash available, say £50k, or strong net current assets will not be eligible. For applicants in this position it simply becomes a business decision for them whether or not to fund their proposed III project or another activity instead.
The good news is that the DTI have decided that applications received before 14th December will still be eligible under the current provisions. So if anyone wants to submit an application, now is the time to do it.
For those who are not familiar with the workings of the grant, it is a particularly useful grant for start-up businesses and for developing companies, as the grant covers 75% of the costs of exploring the viability of a new business idea, product or service.
If anyone wants the guidance notes for this grant please send me a message. I can help anyone who wants to make an application before the deadline.
Simon Read
National Business Innovation Centres
Continuation of the Grant for Investigating an Innovative Idea as a pilot means that the budget for this product will continue to be limited. The DTI have carefully considered how they might manage the grant within the proposed budget and they have decided that they must raise the levels of project innovation and applicant additionality. Therefore for future applications, projects where the proposed innovation would fall into the area of industry good practice will no longer be eligible. Examples of this type of project include introducing a web presence, e-commerce, CRM, etc. Similarly, projects where an applicant has significant cash available, say £50k, or strong net current assets will not be eligible. For applicants in this position it simply becomes a business decision for them whether or not to fund their proposed III project or another activity instead.
The good news is that the DTI have decided that applications received before 14th December will still be eligible under the current provisions. So if anyone wants to submit an application, now is the time to do it.
For those who are not familiar with the workings of the grant, it is a particularly useful grant for start-up businesses and for developing companies, as the grant covers 75% of the costs of exploring the viability of a new business idea, product or service.
If anyone wants the guidance notes for this grant please send me a message. I can help anyone who wants to make an application before the deadline.
Simon Read
National Business Innovation Centres
