£9.3m Innovate UK grant call for feasibility studies that support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Phase 1 now open – deadline 13 November 2019

Innovate UK has launched an exciting new international funding competition, called “Demonstrate Impact in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals”. More details at: https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/443/overview

Purpose: To prepare feasibility studies (Phase 1) that will test the opportunity to deploy a demonstration project (Phase 2), which will lead to transformative commercial solutions to societal challenges related to the UN SDGs

Who: Any UK business as administrative lead, and any business as technical lead

Value: Grant award up to £60,000, with total project costs between approximately £85,000 and £120,000 (so some co-funding is required)

Project duration: Up to 6 months.

Application deadline: 13 November 2019

Through the competition, Innovate UK wants to support UK businesses to work with other businesses, potential end users, customers (and other stakeholders), and demonstrate the potential that innovative, technology-based solutions could have on key socio-economic and development challenges, in developing countries. These solutions could be in the form of innovative physical or digital goods, products, services, business models or processes.

The competition scope is wide – 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals and more than 150 countries are in scope.

The funding call has two phases, and the current opportunity is for Phase 1: Feasibility Studies.

Phase 1 will enable businesses who think they may have a relevant solution for a developing country – but need a bit of support to explore that further – to do exactly that. During phase 1, Innovate UK expects businesses to explore the feasibility of running a demonstrator in the developing country during Phase 2 and to develop a robust approach and plan for doing so. Phase 2 will then be for businesses to actually undertake the demonstration of the solution, in the developing country.

Full details are on Innovate UK’s competition webpages as above. Its Customer Support Services are there to answer any questions businesses may have.