FAQs Manufacturing Skills Fund Updated 24 10 16 Funding Is there a requirement for match funding / client contribution? Will Ufi fund the total cost? There is no formal requirement for match funding. As a charity we welcome contributions from applicants and partners, be it cash or in kind, as this demonstrates a real commitment to the project and its long term impact. Is there a fixed budget set for the programme? How many projects are Ufi looking to fund? We don't have a fixed view on how many projects that we will fund, but will fund those projects that cross the threshold. Funding decisions will be based on quality, fit with the fund criteria and ensuring that we have a good mix of projects in a cohort. What is the geographical scope of the fund? Is it UK wide? Yes it is. We are a UK based charity and we look for the beneficiaries of our projects to be UK based. We do recognise, particularly with online solutions, that there are benefits beyond the UK, but we don't include the assessment of non-uk beneficiaries when we make a funding decision. Will there be restrictions on the number of projects funded within a geographic area? When we do funding calls, we have always worked on the basis that we try and fund all the projects that we think meet a certain quality criteria, so we haven't placed any restrictions on geographical spread. One of the reasons we try to do workshops around the country as well as webinars is to try and avoid accidently creating a geographical concentration. Does the grant cover ongoing costs for the future? Is there any opportunity for follow on funding? Costs covered are for the life of the project, which should be for no more than 18 months. You will need to consider how you will make your product / service sustainable beyond the period of Ufi funding. Ufi aims to be a catalyst for change, and all of our projects ultimately need to be selfsustaining. Grant Process What is required for the online application? It is a two stage process. At stage 1 we focus on whether the project is a good fit with the Ufi mission and objectives of the funding call. Stage 2 is a more detailed application which looks in more depth at the technology, route to market and deliverability of the project. 1
The decision making process is very long. Can you speed it up? The dates for this fund are fixed. How tight does the definition of the project need to be from the outset? We look for the projects to be reasonably well defined - we need a good sense of what you are aiming for and what outcomes you hope to achieve. We operate an agile approach to project management and keep in touch with our projects as we recognise that things do change and the route to the end goal will need to adapt in line with user feedback or technological challenge. Does the employer have to be the applicant? No, we recognise that it can be easier for an organisation other than an employer to lead on a project, but the employer must be a full and active partner. How is funding allocated, spent and monitored i.e. are partners required to submit timesheets to draw down funding? Are grants paid in lump sums versus pre-defined objectives? Applicants need to set out what is needed to do in order to deliver that. If you are successful you will be allocated a Project Manager who will work with you on a PID (Project Implementation Document) that sets out how your project will be delivered and the milestones which need to be achieved for funding to be drawn down. Every single project is unique and we will work with you to agree what is best and most reasonable for your project. It is for you to determine how your project is best delivered and then work with your Project Manager to agree a monitoring plan. The funding milestones will be set as part of this process. If a project has a particular need for upfront funding to assist cash flow then this will be considered on a case by case basis through discussion with the Project Manager. Is there a prescribed daily rate? No. It is up to applicants to set out what they feel is needed to deliver the project objectives. We will take a view on whether costs are reasonable. Collaboration & Employer Engagement If projects need a collaborative partner, how are they sought? Ufi does not introduce applicants to potential partners. We do provide opportunities to network and meet potential collaborators through our events, Twitter and LinkedIn. Do partners have to be located in the UK? Project beneficiaries must be UK based but applicants and partners can come from organisations outside of the UK. It should be noted, however, that benefits in terms of organisational capacity and upskilling will only be applied when that organisation is within the UK. 2
Can an FE college lead on behalf of a collaborative SME consortium or does an employer need to lead? An FE college can definitely be the lead. We are more than aware that for some projects it's often much easier for the employer not to be the lead organisation. In terms of reporting they sometimes find it easier to work through an organisation that is used to dealing with or responding to grant claims. We encourage collaboration but we have absolutely no requirements as to which organisation is the lead partner or the accountable body. Can a university lead or be a partner in collaboration? Yes as long as the focus is post 16 vocational skills and employers are actively involved. We don't fund projects that are classic university research projects because we look very much at impact and our funding is for vocational skills, not graduate / postgraduate degree studies. How many employers need to be engaged? What we are interested in is the potential for scale and impact if the project and the innovation prove to be successful. What is the potential for it to grow? So, in the first instance, projects should take a sensible view on how many employers and learners to engage, depending on the nature of the project and the outcomes you are seeking to achieve. Projects need to be realistic and deliverable within the timeframe and funding available from Ufi. Must applications be made by industrial businesses or on behalf of the consortium that is likely to contain a training technology provider? We want to see collaborative applications. We do need to see employer involvement and some learning design. However we don't have a fixed view how that is structured or who is the applicant / lead partner. We know that sometimes it is easier for a trade body or a larger organisation to lead as the applicant, because sometimes it is difficult for businesses, in particular smaller businesses, to become the accountable body. We are absolutely fine about that as long as projects can demonstrate collaboration. Would Ufi be interested to work with manufacturing support projects that whilst not currently strong in VocTech, do have access to a wide range of supply chain SME's who are able to give insights into training needs? We want to fund projects that have an impact on learners and what we would say in that instance is if you feel you are not strong in vocational technology there's two routes. Either this is project that is designed to create a strength in vocational technology or this is a project that is designed to help you build a partnership with somebody that does have a strength in vocational technology and that you are able then to demonstrate either to your organisation or to the wider community that using digital tech for vocational training is a good thing. 3
Eligibility Would a charity focussed on supporting young adults to move into education or employment through gaining more skills be eligible to apply? Yes, absolutely. For this call one of the areas we are interested in is ideas which bring new talent into manufacturing, so the focus would need to be employment in that sector. This could involve projects to support people who are not in work or upskilling people who work in a different sector. Would a prison based manufacturing training programme that links with engineering, manufacturing employers and the community be eligible? Yes. Can funding be used to purchase hardware and software licenses? Yes, as long as it is suitable and appropriate for the delivery of the project. Do you class UTC s as schools? If a UTC is delivering vocational learning to young people over the age of 16 then that activity would be eligible. Will you fund large companies? As a Charity we need to ensure in all of our funding decisions that public benefit is greater than private sector benefit. So where a large company applies, the application would need to be clear about the wider societal benefits the project would deliver. We will look for that large employer to be making the product freely available to either their full supply chains or to a wider community. When a larger company is helping a much wider community then there is a reason for us to get involved. What is your definition of an SME? We don t have a rigid definition of an SME; we generally say companies with less than 1,000 employees. But we don t want a tight definition to be a barrier to getting good ideas and applications coming forward as what we are interested in is how supply chains can be involved in, and collaborate in, skills development. Supply chain companies take various forms and sizes. Is assessment and verification included in your definition of vocational learning? Yes Can the grant include salary costs for developing and delivering the project? Yes, but they will need to be well evidenced. Is Industry 4.0 is a key focus? If so, is management and training relevant? This isn't an Industry 4.0 call but we recognise that this is an important theme in manufacturing. Leadership and management would be relevant around the technical skills shortages reported by industry (e.g. quality, robotics, systems and processes, maintenance). It is for applicants to make the case in their application. 4
Do you fund degree apprenticeships? This is not currently in scope as we don t fund graduate or postgraduate level skills / University studies. However we are keeping an eye on how these develop. There is a huge gap in design and product development; can we provide these skills including enterprise? We have a broad definition of manufacturing and applicants need to make the case for investment in a particular area. Would you be looking for work placement with employers as an outcome? Placements in themselves are a great thing, but we would be worried if it was a project that was only about making placements into employers, without any commitment to upskilling the existing staff or to taking those individuals on beyond a placement opportunity. Can the funding help us access the expertise we need? Yes, for example, if an applicant isn t strong in voctech the funding can help you strengthen this capacity or build a partnership with someone who does have this expertise. Do you expect projects to meet every need? We expect projects to focus on what they know and to be able to demonstrate how the project benefits others in the manufacturing sector. Would maths and English be eligible? This funding round is focussed on the needs of the manufacturing sector. So if there is a specific rationale why maths and English are important in the context of the manufacturing skills challenge your project is addressing then that is fine. Ufi will be running some more calls next year which will be broader than just the manufacturing sector. Can we request a grant for stage 1 proof of concept and a restricted content base, and then reapply in future to develop more content if it goes well and other impact areas are identified? We are happy to consider early stage projects which are proof of concept, which test a new way of learning in a new setting. We will also consider projects which cover new areas of impact or extend to new audiences. If a project is very successful, the Trustees may consider follow-on funding; however this is in no way guaranteed. Ufi aims to be a catalyst for change, and all of our projects ultimately need to be self-sustaining. We are an existing provider or vocational training. Can the fund be used for capital and revenue activity? We would need to see that our funding enables something different to happen in addition to what you are already doing - what's going to change as a result of our funding? 5
Definitions Can you define the term standard content? What we mean by that is that we are really interested in the digital tech and how the it can help change or improve how learning is developed or delivered so that more people develop their vocational skills. So we aren't going to fund a project which is asking us to support new content for an apprenticeship, there has to be a technology angle. We also do not fund the conversion of standard training content to a digital format Ufi looks to catalyse change, so we look for projects that showcase a new way of working. What do you mean by scalable? What we are interested in is the potential impact. If a project and the innovation prove to be successful what is the potential for it to grow? We would like to see that what you are doing has the potential to reach a large number of individuals. How would you define industry? We take a broad view on this. We are talking about employers that will need the skills. In terms of engagement with industry we would look for an industrial partner within the project, an employer, someone that would actually be using the skills gained within their workplace. Because of the breadth of manufacturing is there the possibility to focus on specific sectors within manufacturing skills for example textiles, furniture or construction? We don't expect the projects to meet the need of every part of the manufacturing sector, but to focus on the areas they know where they think they can have a high impact. That doesn't mean that further down the line the demonstration of that technology and that way of working can't have benefits for other sectors. But the project itself needs to be able to work within the sector you have chosen and be realistic and deliverable within the timeframe and the amount of funding we are offering. How are we defining manufacturing for the purposes of this fund? Would it include construction or gas chemicals? Yes it would. We have a broad view on what we consider to be manufacturing. We feel it is better to open it out because the way the digital tech is used or the way the collaborations work could apply in different settings. Also there are often areas that people don't automatically think of using digital tech for vocational learning so we want to make sure that we have lots of different ideas from different parts of the manufacturing sector. The fund is open to all. 6
Can you expand on what is meant by technical skills? Is it purely vocational manufacturing skills or also other related skills we are seeing in the widening gap for example design, design for additive manufacturing skills? It is really for you to make the case for the problem you are trying to solve. We have set some ideas out in our guidance because having talked to lots of manufacturing organisations and companies those were the areas where it was suggested we could have greatest impact given the current and future skills gaps. However, if you can make the case for why other areas are important and that digital technology can really add value then that is something you can do. This fund covers skills for the manufacturing sector. What do you mean when you say you don t fund training projects? We don t fund projects that just train people or pay for someone to go on a course. We look for the numbers of learners that could be impacted by using digital tech in developing and delivering vocational training, but we don't pay for individuals to receive training. To give an example, we wouldn't fund a project that trains 20 people in an organisation to learn a new skill. But we would fund is a project that develops a piece of kit that could be rolled out to that organisation and to others and so on. Commercialisation Do the final solutions have to be on an open website for anyone to access or can they only be available to a restricted number of users? Our aim is to broaden access and increase the numbers of people improving their vocational skills via digital means. We don't require solutions to be open access, but in your application you will need to explain your route to market and how you are going to attract your target audience in your manufacturing base to your website and how you will encourage them to use the resources on it. We are interested in solutions which are scalable, so applicants should give some thought to how they intend to achieve scale. Who owns any IP generated? When we grant fund as opposed to using our commercial models, we don't take any intellectual property from the project. There are instances where we ask that you share things so that we can have case studies of the demonstrators to build the business case for investment. Is a pay for access to learning model is permitted under the scheme rules? A pay for access model is not excluded per se. For some projects this is an essential part of their sustainability strategy. However, we will want to see realistic projections and plans for how you intend to secure your customers. 7
Impact How do you expect projects to measure impact? Is an evaluation required? Yes. The scope and form of this will be determined between the project and its Project Manager. It will be agreed in the project implementation document (PID) which forms the basis of the funding agreement. Other Are JISC / Feltag involved? Yes, we consider them to be friends of Ufi. We work with them and talk to them about our projects that we fund. They're not formally involved, they're not part of the assessment process or part of the funding structure but they are part of the Ufi network. Why have a call for manufacturing? We feel that there is a real opportunity for digital tech to help address skills shortages in the sector in particular to support upskilling in the supply chain. We are also seeing significant innovation in manufacturing processes, driven by automation and the digitisation of the whole manufacturing value chain. We believe this provides an opportunity to stimulate thinking about innovation in how vocational skills are developed and how training / learning is delivered. What happens if I have a gap in expertise? We welcome people who are able to identify the gaps in their knowledge and if successful we will work with projects to find solutions. Have you had any involvement with Factory 2050 part of AMRC? Yes Is there a list available of digital tech solution providers and if so, how can you become part of it? There is not a list. We don't provide any details of any organisations, partly because we don't endorse one provider above another. We try to encourage people, via the workshops and webinars, to meet each other and have partnership events to support the funding call. 8