GRANT REPORT An analysis of Innovate UK data to discover the characteristics of a successful grant applicant

Transcription

1 GRANT REPORT 2018 An analysis of Innovate UK data to discover the characteristics of a successful grant applicant

2 Contents Directors Introduction 1 Introduction 2 Executive Summary 3 General Observations Regarding Uk R&D Grant Funding 4 Uk R&D Funding: Introduction to Innovate Uk 5 Characteristics for Success in Securing R&D Grant Funding 6 Key Sectors and Intervention Rates 7 Geographical Distribution of Funding Awarded ( ) 9 Regional Distribution of Funds by Funding Sector ( ) 10 Comparison of Funding Allocation by Region 11 Typical Project Duration 12 Funding per Project Participant 13 Geographical Distribution of Lead Project Participants 14 Innovate UK and Sbri 15 Regional Distribution of SBRI Funding 16 Future R&D Grant Funding Opportunities 17 Granted Consultancy 19 THE TEAM BEHIND THIS REPORT Juliana Yusuf Researcher, Analyst and Co-author Laura Guss-Tarazona Researcher, Analyst and Co-author Will Granger Lead Analyst Tom Kennard Co-author & Domain Expert Jon Williams Co-author & Domain Expert Alex Chalkley Co-author & Domain Expert

3 Directors Introduction Introduction We are in the midst of a profound re-shaping of the UK s non-dilutive funding landscape. The UK a leading Innovator The UK is recognised globally as an innovator. Its strategic funding investments in digital technologies, smart infrastructure and advanced materials, alongside its world-leading health research, means it is currently ranked second in a recently published list of the world s most innovative countries (Cornell University, 2017). However, the country has a relatively poor reputation for successfully commercialising its innovations and converting its intellectual capital into sustainable economic growth, especially compared to its G7 peers. Non-Dilutive Funding Pivot In an attempt to address this, the UK s public funding for businesses is increasingly pivoting from regional growth funding, often underpinned by European financial support and linked explicitly towards quantifiable job creation, to funding to accelerate commercialisation of innovative, British-science backed products and services. This innovation funding is increasingly being directed towards small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The prioritisation of grant funding for innovation-led businesses in the UK is being driven in part by the uncertainties surrounding the UK s imminent exit from the European Union ( Brexit ) and the growing belief that supporting scalable, technology-based businesses will underpin the delivery of future economic growth in the UK. The seed investment made in Tech Start-up UK has breathed life into the innovation-led economy - now it is time to scale. Grant Report Granted is a leading non-dilutive funding consultancy. Our ability to identify, match and secure suitable funding for our clients rests upon our understanding of the dynamic funding landscape, particularly the motivations of key funders and the typical characteristics that define successful applicants. This report, with its focus on grant funding from Innovate UK, seeks to share a proportion of our knowledge with prospective applicants and their advisors. Its content has been informed by analysis of data from a combination of publically available sources supplemented by our own, proprietary databases, built during a decade of supporting businesses in their efforts to secure grant funding. February 2018 Jon Williams Tom Kennard Alex Chalkley This is the second edition of The Grant Report researched and prepared by the team at Granted Consultancy Limited, a specialist R&D funding consultancy. The report is intended for innovative, growing businesses, particularly SMEs, that are seekingnondilutive funding to support and catalyse the commercialisation of their R&D projects. It is intended to complement their efforts to develop a holistic investment strategy that could also include traditional equity or debt based approaches as well as more innovative methods of fundraising. The backbone of this report is an analysis of the non-dilutive funding distributed by the UK Government s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Formerly known as the Technology Strategy Board (and soon to become part of UKRI (UK Research and Innovation)), Innovate UK is the leading R&D grant funder in the UK with an annual funding budget that is set to increase to 2bn by Whilst there are other significant sources of R&D funding for UK based companies, Innovate UK is by far the largest and best known. Our analysis draws upon recently published data, including publicly available data from Innovate UK, in an attempt to inform the development of the strategy and tactics necessary to successfully secure grant funding (and to maximise its impact). The characteristics of a successful applicant evaluated here include: The location, size and sector of the applicant business The duration of the proposed R&D project The number of collaborative partners in the project The total R&D project costs, grant funding requested and intervention ( subsidy ) rate Non-dilutive funding: Grant funds or similar that do not dilute current shareholder ownership and are typically non-refundable. P1 P2

4 Executive Summary UK R&D Grant Funding to 2021 Innovate UK has become the primary conduit for UK Government to deliver R&D grant funding for businesses in the UK. Subject to future changes in the UK s uncertain political environment, Innovate UK s annual budget is due to be quadrupled within the next 3 years, from 500m per annum to 2bn per annum, in part to support the delivery of the UK Government s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). Current priority sectors include: Clean and flexible energy or the Faraday Challenge : an investment of 246 million over 4 years to help UK businesses seize the opportunities presented by the transition to a low carbon economy, to ensure the UK leads the world in the design, development and manufacture of batteries for the electrification of vehicles Cutting-edge healthcare and medicine: an investment of 197 million over 4 years to develop firstof-a-kind technologies for the manufacture of medicines that will speed up patient access to new drugs and treatments, building on the exporting strengths of the UK s biopharmaceutical sector Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI): an investment of 93 million over 4 years to make industry and public services more productive, by developing AI and robotics systems that can be deployed in extreme environments which occur in off-shore energy, nuclear energy, space and deep mining Driverless cars: to ensure the UK s reputation as a world-leader in driverless car technology, a sector predicted to be worth 63 billion by 2035, the government will be investing a further 38 million in new collaborative research and development projects, working with industry partners to develop the next generation of AI and control systems needed to ensure that the UK is at the forefront of the driverless cars revolution Manufacturing and future materials: through a new 26 million fund for research and development programmes, the government will support the UK s civil aerospace industry, a sector which employs over 230,000 people, to develop the next generation of affordable light-weight composite materials for aerospace, automotive and other advanced manufacturing sectors Satellites and space technology: building on the UK s global reputation for satellite technology, a growth industry that underpins mobile technology, the ISCF will provide funding for a 99 million satellite test facility supporting new launch technologies and the manufacturing and testing capabilities that will allow the UK to construct future satellites and deliver payloads into orbit General Observations Regarding Uk R&D Grant Funding In order to provide transparency and analysis of the UK R&D grant funding landscape, this report has primarily been based on the Innovate UK released dataset surrounding successful projects from the fiscal years 2005 to The data has been used to outline the profile of a successful grant funding applicant and key trends within the UK R&D grant funding environment. Applicants (typically innovation-led businesses) have the option to apply for funding through Innovate UK s structured sector competitions as well as through initiatives such as the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI). Summary of characteristics Funding has been increasingly prioritised towards specific sectors including Health and Life Sciences and Emerging and Enabling Technologies There is a clear trend towards shorter, proof of concept projects, with most successful projects ranging between 6 to 24 months in duration There was a demonstrable preference for projects with fewer participants, versus historical biases Projects with fewer participants tended to have higher intervention rates UK R&D funders awarded the majority of grant funding to applicants located in London, the South East and the North West; this was particularly pronounced for SBRI funding UK R&D Funding Applicant Characteristics: Innovate UK Project Size Project Duration Small/ Micro 1-2 years Average Project Budget 586,795 Number of Project Participants 1 Average Contribution 354,767 Average Intervention Rate* 6 Location London and the South East (Innovate UK) South East and the North West (SBRI) Forecast 40 increase in funding for Electric Vehicle batteries Forecast 20 increase in funding for Robotics * Intervention Rate can be defined as the proportion of a project s budget that can be claimed as a grant by the applicant P3 P4

5 Uk R&D Funding: Introduction to Innovate Uk 2.2b p.a. invested by 2021 Characteristics for Success in Securing R&D Grant Funding 2017: 27% Funding to micro sized enterprises One of the primary public funders for research and development in the UK is Innovate UK, which evolved from its predecessor the Technology Strategy Board. In April 2018, Innovate UK will be merged with the UK s Research Councils to become UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)). Innovate UK allocates funding to UK recipients through a variety of grant competitions. It also increasingly manages the allocation and distribution of targeted grant funds for UK Government departments. Since 2007, Innovate UK has invested around 2.2bn in innovation, which has been more than matched by the private sector, returning between 11.5bn and 116bn to the UK economy. Its business focused terms, including 10 IP retention by applicants, broad coverage of project costs and relatively lighttouch monitoring, make their funds typically more attractive to applicants than comparable sources. Up to 50m available through Innovation loans Up to 1 billion available through Innovation loans Distribution of Grant Funding by Company Size Historically ( ), larger companies (with >250 employees or > 50m/year turnover) received a disproportionately large share of the available R&D Funding (31.9%). However, within the fiscal year there has been significantly more funding channelled towards micro, small and medium and enterprises (SMEs). Micro and small enterprises collectively accounted for over 53% of the funding distributed in this period. Figure 1. Funding Distribution by Enterprise Size Other 2017: 26% Funding to small enterprises Historically: 32% Funding to large enterprises Recently, Innovate UK s funding has been channelled towards the following sector groups: Small Micro Emerging and Enabling Technologies Medium Health and Life Sciences Large Infrastructure Systems Catapult Manufacturing and Materials Academic Open Calls (Non-Core) 1 5% 1 15% 2 25% 3 35% As part of the UK Government s Industrial Strategy, Innovate UK will be a leading organisation in the delivery of the ISCF (Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund) the first wave of the Industrial Strategy Fund, Grant offered (%) Grant offered (%) which offers a welcome 1 billion 4-year investment into research and innovation this year. 2 To address the funding gap between operational prototyping and product launch, Innovate UK has recently piloted two new schemes: Innovation Loans and Investor Partnership Grants that come with direct co-investment from private equity investors. These initiatives are intended to complement other non-dilutive funding options including R&D tax credits and Small Business Research Initiatives (SBRI) P5 P6

6 Key Sectors and Intervention Rates The Innovate UK Delivery plan announced the agency s intention to refocus its funding into four key sector groups, anticipating the subsequent development of the ISCF: 1) Emerging and Enabling Technologies Figure 3. Intervention Rate by Sector Average funding awarded: 354,767 Average total project cost: 586,795 2) Health and Life Sciences 3) Infrastructure Systems 4) Manufacturing and Materials Figure 2 details the percentage of total funding allocated to each sector group, as well as the Non-Core and Development sector groups. 2 Development Emerging & Enabling Health & Life Science Infrastructure Systems Materials & Manufacturing Non Core Grant received of total project cost (%) Grant received of total project cost (%) Average intervention rate: 6 Figure 2. Funding Allocation by Sector 3 The overall average value of the total grant funding awarded per project is 354,767, while the average total project cost is 586,795. This equates to an average grant award of 6 of the total project costs per project. 25% 2 15% 1 5% Development Emerging & Enabling Health & Life Science Infrastructure Systems Materials & Manufacturing Non Core Grant offered (%) Grant offered (%) The four key sectors mentioned above have historically received more funding in comparison to the other sector groups, totalling 81% within the fiscal year and 72% in previous fiscal years ( ). Figure 3 details the average intervention rates per sector. It is noted that although only a small percentage of grant funding is offered to projects falling into the Development sector, historically this sector has seen the highest total project cost covered at 82%. The average intervention rate for grants awarded within the other sectors is: Infrastructure Systems (69%), Health & Life Sciences (68%), Materials & Manufacturing (64%), Emerging and Enabling (58%) and Open (Non-Core; 52%). P7 P8

7 Geographical Distribution of Funding Awarded ( ) As the chart below demonstrates, the South East, London and the South West dominate the funding allocation; between them they account for more than 48% of funding awarded by Innovate UK. This equates to 2,791,213,534 of the total funding. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland combined received less than 9% of total funding awarded. Figure 4. Geographical Distribution of Grant Funding Awarded by Innovate UK ( ) Regional Distribution of Funds by Funding Sector ( ) London and the South East received a larger proportion of the sectoral funding available, particularly funding allocated to the Emerging and Enabling, Health & Life Sciences and Infrastructure Systems. In contrast, the South West received almost 6 of the funding earmarked for development. Figure 6. Regional Distribution of Funds by Funding Sector ( ) Development London South East South West West Midlands East of England North East Scotland East Midlands North West Wales Northern Ireland Outside UK Emerging & Enabling Variation in Intervention Rate by Location Yorkshire and the Humber Our analysis showed a geographical variation in the intervention rate allocated to different UK regions (approximately 5 to over 8). It s interesting to note that London and the South East, in addition to receiving the highest proportion of funding, also had the UK s lowest intervention rates. Figure 5. Analysis of Intervention Rate by Region 0 8 Health & Life Science Infrastructure Systems Materials & Manufacturing Non Core East Midlands East of England London North East North West Northern Ireland Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber Unknown London Northern Ireland South East North West East of England South West Wales West Midlands East Midlands Scotland Yorkshire and the Humber North East P9 P10

8 Comparison of Funding Allocation by Region % of funding received in London 21% Typical Project Duration Compared to historical allocation ( ), there has been a recent shift in the typical duration of a project awarded funding by Innovate UK (reflecting recent changes in funding criteria and application 25.67% Funding allocated to projects with length <1 year In a comparison of the allocation of funding by region with the region s population figures, it is clear that some regions received more grant funding per capita from Innovate UK than population distribution alone would otherwise have indicated. The regions that were more successful in securing grant funding from Innovate UK (than would have been predicted based on population size alone) include London, the North East, the South West, the South East, and to a lesser extent the West Midlands. In contrast, the North West, Wales and Scotland were less successful in securing funding than if it were allocated solely on a per capita basis. % of funding received in South East 15% assessment): There has been a significant increase in the number of projects with shorter durations (<12 months; months) versus longer durations (2+years). This trend can also be seen historically with Innovate UK funding increasingly directed towards projects with shorter durations. Figure 8. Percentage of total R&D funding allocated by Innovate UK against the project duration % Funding allocated to projects with length 1 - <2 years 29.97% Figure 7. Funding Allocation by Region 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% -1% -2% -3% -4% -5% -6% -7% North East London South West South East West Midlands East of England Yorkshire and the Humber East Midlands Scotland Northern Ireland North West Wales < Grant offered (%) Grant offered (%) >10 Funding allocated to projects with length >2-3 years P11 P12

9 Funding per Project Participant Comparing the projects funded in the fiscal year against those funded since 2004, there has been a significant increase in grant funding for projects with only 1 participant (over 5 of the funding granted in this 12 month period). Figure 9. Comparison of Funding Allocation by Innovate UK per Project Participant ( ) Participant 2-3 Participants 4-5 Participants 6-7 Participants Grant offered (%) Grant offered (%) 8-9 Participants 10+ Participants Figure 9 shows the total percentage of grants awarded by Innovate UK based on the number of participants involved in a project listed in the UK. On average, projects with only one participant have a higher intervention rate (total average grant funding awarded by Innovate UK was 74% of total average project cost within the fiscal year). Notably, the distribution of funding to projects with only one participant varies across sectors compared to projects with 2 or more participants. This trend is particularly pronounced in the Health & Life Sciences sector where approximately 35% of funding awarded went to projects with a single participant. Geographical Distribution of Lead Project Participants Reflecting the geographical distribution of funding by region, over 33% of lead participants hailed from either London (16.5%) or the South East (16.4%). The number of lead participants coming from Northern Ireland and Wales are significantly lower at 1.44% and 3.12% respectively. In total, lead participants were awarded over 62% of the total grant funding offered to a consortium, by Innovate UK. This weighting is expected to become more pronounced based on trends in the average number of participants per application. Figure 10. Geographical Distribution of Lead Project Participants ( ) Northern Ireland Wales North East Yorkshire and the Humber Scotland East Midlands West Midlands South West North West East of England London South East P13 P14

10 Innovate UK and Sbri The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) is a well-established process to connect public sector challenges with innovative ideas from industry, support companies to generate economic growth and enable improvement in achieving government objectives. Funding is awarded through Innovate UK, however, analysis of the funding awarded through the SBRI scheme compared to Innovate UK highlights some key differences in sector as well as region. Looking at grant allocation by sectors as a percentage of the total funding distributed, SBRI demonstrably allocates more funding into the Health & Life Sciences (61%) and Infrastructure & Systems (35%) sectors. Funding allocation to other sectors is less than 5%. Additionally, of the top five Health & Life Sciences projects funded by Innovate UK in the fiscal year, four projects were funded through the SBRI initiative. Regional Distribution of SBRI Funding The South East, North West and London have received the largest proportion of SBRI funding. This is more pronounced than comparable Innovate UK funding over the same period: multiple regions received less than 5% of SBRI funding. Figure 12. Comparison of the Regional Distribution of SBRI and Innovate UK Funding (2017) Northern Ireland East Midlands Figure 11. Sectoral Distribution of SBRI and Innovate UK Funding ( ) Funding offered - Innovate UK (%) North East Wales South West North West 8 Scotland London 7 West Midlands East of England 6 5 Funding offered - SBRI (%) Yorkshire and the Humber South East Development Emerging & Enabling Health & Life Science Infrastructure Systems Materials & Manufacturing Non Core Funding grant offered - Innovate UK (%) Funding offered - SBRI (%) P15 P16

11 Future R&D Grant Funding Opportunities In the 2016 Autumn Statement, the UK Government announced its strategic plan for spending to support UK Research and Development (up to 2021). This included a commitment to significantly increase the amount of grant funding that would be made available to innovative UK businesses carrying out R&D. In light of this, individual linear regressions were performed on the dataset available for each sector using the prior year s figures. This was carried out to create a forecast line based on the percentage of funding allocated to each sector year on year. However, our analysis showed that the percentage allocation of funding in the prior years had P-values too high to draw the conclusion that the prior year figures are statistically significant in determining any future allocation by Innovate UK (taking a 95% confidence level). Consequently, it would be unreliable to base future funding patterns by Innovate UK on past years funding figures. It is noted instead that there has been a stark shift in funding by Innovate UK year on year. The move has been from funding allocated to broader topics towards industrial strategies where the topic has been carefully specified. The six industrial strategies currently prioritised by Innovate UK include: 4 1) Clean and flexible energy or the Faraday Challenge 2) Cutting-edge healthcare and medicine 3) Robotics and artificial intelligence 4) Driverless cars 5) Manufacturing and future materials 6) Satellites and space technology A key words search was run over the Innovate UK released dataset of successful projects for the /2018 fiscal year period and compared against the announced budget. For each industrial strategy, projects with the following key words present in their public description were extracted: 1) Clean and flexible energy or the Faraday Challenge = Vehicles / Batteries 2) Cutting-edge healthcare and medicine = Healthcare / Medicine 3) Robotics and artificial intelligence = AI / Robotics and Offshore, Nuclear, Deep Mining or Space 4) Driverless cars = Autonomous and Vehicles 5) Manufacturing and future materials = Composite Materials and Aerospace / Automotive 6) Satellites and space technology = Satellites and Space Figure 13. Keyword analysis of Innovate UK Funding Allocation ( ) 250,000, ,000, ,000, ,000,000 50,000,000 0 Battery / Vehicles Medicine / Healthcare Satellites / Space AI / Robotics in Offshore / Nuclear / Space / Deep Mining Autonomous / Driverless Composite Material(s) in Aerospace / Automotive Figure 13 highlights a significant increase in funding allocated to the development of new batteries for vehicles, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, and Space Satellite Technology. This represents an increase greater than 40, 20, and 10 respectively in the total funding budget compared to the funding offered historically. There is significant scope to obtain funding in these areas. Topics such as Driverless Vehicles and Composite Materials have had their funding proportionately reduced which is in line with the historic funding pattern. >40 increase in funding for Electric Vehicle batteries >20 increase in funding for Robotics >20 increase in funding for Space and Satellites P17 P18

12 Granted Consultancy Services Granted Consultancy is a strategic business consultancy that specialises in identifying and securing non-dilutive funding to support companies with the development and commercialisation of new and innovative products, services and technologies. Non-dilutive funding, such as grants and R&D tax credits, can be used to accelerate new product development, offset R&D costs, access top class research facilities and drive market entry. VALUE OF PROJECTS UNLOCKED 135m We ve a proven track record of securing funding for ambitious companies looking to grow their business rapidly: we know where to find suitable funding, how to access it successfully and how to use it to best effect. Grant Funding Consultancy Building on decades of funding experience, we offer a market leading end-to-end grant consultancy service. This includes the copy-writing, editing and submission of professionally written grant applications and supporting documents in order to maximise the probability of successfully securing funding. In addition to our writing expertise, we advise clients on the potential eligibility and scope of proposed projects, supporting them in their development of deliverable and appropriately costed project plans. This is further complemented by our ability to use our extensive sectoral networks to match-make clients with prospective collaborative partners, where required. R&D Tax Credits We have a 10 success rate in the preparation, submission and management of R&D tax credit claims on behalf of our clients. The team has worked with a wide variety of companies from start-ups to bluechip multi-nationals. We work closely with clients to assess their potential eligibility, including their ability to make historical claims for previous financial years, as well as advising them on how to maximise future claims. R&D TAX CREDITS 10 SUCCESS ROI FOR OUR CLIENTS 2535% GRANT FUNDING SECURED 35m 25m RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT GRANTS CAPITAL & INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS 10m Project Management Services We provide considered project management support for successfully grant funded projects including initial compliance, project initiation, reporting, financial drawdown, partner liaison and on-going communication of project milestones. Our project management approach is tailored to each client s specific skillsets and needs, ensuring maximum value for money and the right expertise at the right time. Strategic Funding Advice We work with a wide range of companies across multiple sectors, at various stages of product commercialisation. We understand the importance of clear, strategic, and timely, advice on funding options. Our team is up-to-date with current grant funding opportunities, particularly for cutting-edge R&D, as well as other dilutive and alternative funding options, and can support C-level decision makers in successfully interpreting the often complex funding landscape. Digital / Health / Distributed Ledger / Materials / Machine Learning / Clean Tech / Autonomous Vehicles Education / Manufacturing / Construction / Tourism / Energy Design / Development Our Team Granted Consultancy has built a highly qualified and experienced team of grant writers, project managers and domain specialists. The skillset of the team includes: PhD and MSc level research capabilities Development of commercialisation strategies Ability to upskill at pace in new technology sectors Project management Creative and technical writing Strategic management consultancy Financial modelling and planning P19 P20

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