Leading BEIS’s £72m Energy Entrepreneurs Fund for 8 years

Challenge

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) required a capable partner to manage and deliver its Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF) programme. BEIS had sought a consortium possessing both programme delivery expertise and technical knowledge to fulfil several critical functions:

• Promote the programme effectively to potential applicants
• Conduct thorough reviews of grant applications
• Manage ongoing relationships with grant recipients
• Provide incubation support to selected companies

Additionally, BEIS needed a provider to develop specialised incubation planning tools that would help prioritise support activities for maximum impact. The department also placed significant emphasis on demonstrating value for money through the development and evaluation of key performance indicators (KPIs).

Solution

A comprehensive programme management approach was implemented that covered the entire lifecycle of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund:

1. Programme Establishment and Governance: At inception, all necessary processes, governance arrangements, evaluation metrics, and KPIs were established and periodically refreshed to ensure optimal programme functioning.
2. Promotion and Outreach: The EEF was promoted through multiple communications channels, including online marketing, proprietary mailing lists reaching an extensive UK SME network, and presentations at industry events. This active promotion strategy has resulted in an increase in applications each year since the programme’s inception.
3. Application Management: An online workspace was utilised to disseminate project information to registrants and to receive, organise, share and track applications, queries and decisions. The platform had provided BEIS with full transparency, and all queries from applicants had received responses within 24 hours.
4. Rigorous Assessment Process: A detailed methodology was developed for grant assessment:
   1. Initial screening for eligibility and completeness
   2. Technical and commercial review by experts from BEIS and delivery partners
   3. Robust moderation process to select winning projects
   4. Use of bespoke data visualisation tools and geographic plots to facilitate panel discussions
   5. Final verification through site visits, which also served as an anti-fraud measure
5. Project Management and Monitoring: A shared online workspace was employed to manage project-specific tasks and store data. Regular communication between project managers and grant recipients ensured that timelines were followed, milestones were achieved, and grants were disbursed appropriately. Comprehensive metrics were tracked, including private money raised, jobs created, and patents filed.
6. Incubation Support: Tailored incubation planning tools were developed to prioritise support activities for grant recipients. This resulted in the delivery of thousands of days of hands-on support across 550 incubation tasks.
7. Robust Processes: The programme implemented strong operational procedures covering contract management, data security, State Aid compliance, and financial administration.

Outcome

The management of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund delivered impressive results over an 8-year period:

• Over 1,100 grant applications were reviewed
• £72m of grants invested into 134 companies and 155 projects over 7 years
• 550 incubation support tasks prioritised, and thousands of days of hands-on support delivered
• Consistent growth in application numbers achieved, with Round 7 attracting nearly 200 Expressions of Interest and 107 full applications
• A highly competitive selection process resulted in 23 grant offers in 2019 alone

The programme’s effectiveness was demonstrated through comprehensive evaluation of the 75 surveyed companies supported through EEF Rounds 1-5 (representing £51.3m of grants):

• Over £219m of private investment was raised, showing significant catalytic returns on grant investment
• At least 558 jobs were created
• 236 patents were filed
• 61 products were successfully launched
• 76 industry partnerships have been forged
• 81 customer trials were secured

These outcomes clearly demonstrated the programme’s success in supporting innovative energy sector SMEs while delivering substantial value for public investment.