Take the risk out of innovation with a business grant

The North of Tyne Innovation Recovery Grant covers 50% of eligible business spend towards innovation projects totalling between £10,000 and £20,000 (excluding VAT) – with grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 available.

The grant is open to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the North of Tyne area.

Graeme Miller, head of innovation at Innovation SuperNetwork, is passionate about the help the grant can provide: “We try to support companies working on innovative projects by giving them a grant to de-risk part of the project. With the North of Tyne Innovation Recovery Grant, a 50% contribution is often enough to take the risk out of any cashflow or investment concerns a businesses might have, helping them complete an innovation project that otherwise would not have progressed.

“This could be a company looking to develop a new piece of software and they need to utilise external support to solve a complex development problem. It could be someone designing a new product and they need external support to design a specific part or maybe to build a prototype.”

Graeme says the grant can often be the first stage of support as it allows his team of experts to understand more about a project and then offer further advice and support.

Graeme adds: “We may also identify a need for further investment and our ‘access to finance’ team would support the client in this area.”

Launched by the North of Tyne Combined Authority (add link https://www.northoftyne-ca.gov.uk/ to enable a green and sustainable recovery, projects with the potential to safeguard and create quality jobs, build a more inclusive economy and contribute towards the net zero agenda have all been given funding.

The project is being delivered by experienced grant fund managers NBSL and innovation and business support experts Innovation SuperNetwork.

Drone Ag

Drone Ag were able to leverage further investment after receiving their initial North of Tyne Innovation Recovery Grant.

The Alnwick AgriTech firm established its business delivering aerial crop scouting, spraying, and mapping using drones and smart data-analytics. The mix of Innovation funding secured will help them expand their operation into developing a drone-based solution to soil sampling.

Aircards

With help from the North of Tyne Innovation Recovery Grant, Aircards were able to meet their growth goals through the purchase of new workstations and specialist software.

Based in Newcastle, the Createch business were able to develop a new key proprietary software platform ‘Spatial Analytics’ which allows clients to monitor, measure and manage user behaviour within any web-based immersive experience.

Apply now

The grant is open to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Newcastle, Northumberland or North Tyneside.

Projects need to be innovative. This means they should change something for the better within a business – it could be a new product, an improved service or a new way of working, but it needs to be something the business has never done before.

To apply or find out more about how to get 50% of grant funding towards innovative projects totalling £10,000 – £20,000 click here. Funded though the North of Tyne Recovery Innovation Fund, the grant was launched in June last year by the North of Tyne Combined Authority to enable a green and sustainable recovery after Covid-19. Projects with the potential to safeguard and create quality jobs, build a more inclusive economy and contribute towards the net zero agenda have all been given funding.