Looking to secure funding to bring a new product to market, or drive forward an idea could make a real-world impact? Here, Dominic Parkes, Research Development Bid Writer at Swansea University, explains how becoming a member of our Network can give you the edge when identifying funding opportunities and writing competitive grant bids – and why having the right support can make all the difference.

Innovation is the life-blood of many businesses, particularly those in the broad and diverse life-sciences sector. It feeds the hopper of novel and distinctive products or services that can give businesses and other organisations the edge within their marketplace. Successful innovation can help to distinguish a business from its competitors, drive revenue and profitability, and enable growth. For organisations that are not profit-driven, such as social enterprises, it can be a means of achieving positive impact that benefits the people and communities they support. But it often comes at a cost. For smaller businesses in particular, meeting the costs associated with innovation – specialist expertise, iterative development and testing, access to facilities, time to market – can be challenging.

Governments recognise the value of business innovation as a driver of progress for society and the economy. It is critical for addressing the grand challenges that we face, such as climate change, health in ageing, nutrition and healthy diet, obesity and the threat of pandemics. And it’s a key driver of the economy, jobs, and shared prosperity.

One way to meet the challenge of obtaining funding for business innovation is to seek grant funding. Grants for enterprise and innovation are available from a variety of different sources, including the UK and devolved regional governments. Innovate UK, for example, is the UK’s Government’s innovation agency and a major grant funder of business innovation. Their mission is to help businesses grow through developing and commercialising promising new ideas. Unlike a loan, grant funding doesn’t have to be repaid, and there is usually no requirement to give away any equity in the business or to surrender any business control. It provides a means of enabling and de-risking the innovation process, ultimately enabling businesses to develop and expand.

However, there is a downside to innovation-grant funding: the process of securing it often feels daunting. This is particularly the case for small businesses that may not be well resourced to engage with the grant-seeking process. The following questions are important to take into consideration:

• What funding is available?
• Who is offering it?
• Where to search for grant funding?
• Which grant scheme would be most suitable?
• What are the eligibility requirements?
• What is expected of applicants?
• Who else needs to be involved, or could bring benefits by being involved?
• How to find suitable collaborators and partners?
• How to navigate the application process?
• How to write the application – what will make it stand out and have the best chance of success?

Pretty much every grant application is based around a story. It’s the story of why your innovation is exciting and important, and needs to be supported to realise its full potential for your enterprise, for wider society and for the economy. Understanding what needs to go into that story, and how to tell it in a compelling way that will excite the funder, is key. Often, having some knowledge about the funder and their priorities is critical – understanding ‘what makes them tick’ so as to make sure the application hits the mark.

Businesses, and SMEs in particular, are usually lean organisations that tend not to have lots of spare resource for engaging in the grants process. And they often have little or no experience and expertise in how to apply for and win grants. Specialist grants consultants exist, but once again these come at a cost.

Within our Network, we have a team of specialists who are immersed in the innovation-grants process. Embedded within Swansea University, we have access to a breadth of innovation and grants expertise, knowledge of the grants process, insights into a wide range of different funding sources, and substantial grant-writing experience. We are linked into an extensive network of academic experts across a range of life-science, engineering and technology disciplines, with access to specialist advanced infrastructure and resources across the University. And our network provides access to fellow innovators across business and other sectors, as well as links into healthcare settings and elite sport.

By becoming a member of the National Network for Innovation in Sport & Health, you will put us on your grants team. We can help you to identify and understand suitable funding opportunities, find collaborators, develop your funding application and navigate the whole process of applying for innovation funding. We’re here to support the next leg of your innovation journey.