Fife Council’s Business Efficiency Grant provides financial support to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Fife become more efficient.
The initial round of applications opens on 1 March 2024 and closes on 30 April 2024. Further application rounds will be held if budget allows.
The fund provides small non-repayable grants of between £3,000 and £20,000. These will cover up to a maximum of 90% of eligible project costs.
Grants can be used to help with costs in 2 eligible areas:
The net zero grants help companies invest in measures that will increase the efficiency of their premises, processes and technologies.
The funding can be used to:
Digital development
The digital development grants help companies invest in digital solutions to improve their efficiency, competitiveness and reach.
Eligible uses could include:
Applications are completed by a Business Gateway adviser, then checked, signed and submitted by the business that’s applying. Therefore, you must be working with Business Gateway Fife to be considered.
You’ll need to provide detailed information about your business (including financial) and your proposed use of the funds (including quotes for proposed work or equipment purchases) to complete the application form.
Businesses can receive more than one grant through this scheme, but the total amount received cannot exceed £20,000.
The Business Efficiency Grant is delivered by Business Gateway Fife on behalf of Fife Council and is fully funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Digital and Net Zero
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to invest in innovation projects.
Up to £3.5 million from Innovate UK and up to CA$3 million from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), an equivalent of approximately £5.4 million in total, has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition.
The aim of this competition is to support collaborative research and development (CR&D) through Canadian and UK partnerships, to assist the development and commercialisation of circular solutions for critical minerals.
Your proposal must demonstrate co-development, have a high innovation potential and address a technological challenge. It must include a plan for future exploitation leading to full commercialisation, and it must ensure all necessary environmental, social and governance (ESG) and regulatory challenges are addressed.
In applying for this public funding, you are entering into a competitive process.
This competition closes at 5pm UK time (which is 9am PDT and 12 noon EDT) on 3 April 2024 in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Critical Minerals
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £2 million in supporting innovation projects. These innovation projects will develop solutions that enable private investors to invest in nature positive projects.
This funding is from Innovate UK and is part of a £7 million Integrating Finance and Biodiversity for a Nature Positive Future (IFB) programme led by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The aim of this competition is to mobilise significant private investment to scale nature positive solutions. The competition will enable the development, acceleration and commercialisation of innovative solutions. These solutions must enable private investors to confidently invest in nature positive projects.
Your project must focus on one or more of the following themes:
Your project must address and overcome, previously identified barriers to private investment in nature, including but not limited to:
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Finance
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), the automotive industry and academia, to invest up to £15 million in the Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator 3 (ARMD3) competition.
These will be to accelerate the industrialisation of technologies, digital optimisation and manufacturing processes, to support the UK’s transition to a zero emissions automotive industry.
The aim of this competition is to develop a product or process demonstrator, to show increased capability, and commercial exploitation opportunity, as a result of the project. The project will utilise future zero emission powertrain technology as a key element in the UKs transition to net zero.
We are looking for business led late-stage R&D projects that will demonstrate advanced propulsion technologies. The output of these projects must be in the form of a demonstrator.
Your proposal must explain how technology development will be significantly accelerated through your project and must clearly describe how these products will be brought to market.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
Automotive
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) and Korean Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) to invest up to £6 million in innovation projects.
The aim of this competition is to fund business led, collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. This is for innovative proposals developed between the UK and South Korea.
Your proposal must include at least one partner from the UK and one partner from South Korea.
UK registered organisations must apply to and will be funded by Innovate UK.
Your South Korean partner will not receive any funding from Innovate UK. South Korean partners must apply to and will be funded by either KIAT or KETEP, depending on the focus sector of the project:
KIAT
KETEP
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process.
The project must be independently selected by both Innovate UK and KIAT or KETEP to be awarded funding.
KIAT:
KETEP:
Are you developing technologies for the conversion of CO2 into a higher value product in Scotland? Or do you have an industrial site with CO2 emissions that you want to convert to create value?
If so, the CO2 Utilisation Challenge Fund could help support your move towards commercialisation.
Your project should be focused on the development of technology to use CO2 as a feedstock for conversion to a more valuable product. The fund is intended to support projects that will target pilot-scale or pre-commercial deployment of CO2 utilisation technology in an industrial setting within three years.
This fund is run by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of Scottish Government. It’s being provided as part of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2020/2021 commitments.
We want to ensure Scotland stays ahead of the new industrial opportunities that carbon capture, utilisation and storage deployment offers.
Promising early work shows that CO2 utilisation has real potential to help develop a circular economy. Research also suggests that it could provide opportunities for our workforces and economic benefits for a range of different sectors.
That’s why we’re supporting these emerging technologies through our £5 million CO2 Utilisation Challenge Fund, run in partnership with the Scottish Government.
CO2 Utilisation
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £2 million in supporting innovation projects. These innovation projects will develop solutions that enable private investors to invest in nature positive projects.This funding is from Innovate UK and is part of a £7 million Integrating Finance and Biodiversity for a Nature Positive Future (IFB) programme led by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
Nature, Biodiversity
IETF Phase 3: Spring 2024 will allocate grant funding for the following project types:
The IETF Phase 3 budget is £185 million overall. This will be allocated across 2 competition windows in 2024. We will allocate funding to the highest quality applications that are submitted in the first window, with any remaining budget allocated in the second window.
Please note that IETF funding is only applicable to England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Organisations in Scotland should contact SIETF@gov.scot for more information.
Industrial decarbonisation
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £4 million in innovation projects as part of the CLIMATES programme. Your project must be focused on circular critical materials supply chains.
The aim of this competition is to stimulate growth in a circular critical materials supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs), or alternative materials. Your collaborative innovation project will address opportunities across the whole value chain and help increase supply chain resilience.
This competition is split into 2 strands:
CLIMATES: Supply chain innovations for rare earths, strand 1 is for early-stage feasibility studies. These projects will facilitate the adoption of new innovations in processes, technologies or services by industry, to grow a more resilient UK supply chain for REEs.
CLIMATES: Supply chain innovations for rare earths, strand 2 (this strand) is for mid and late-stage research and development (R&D) projects. These projects will accelerate the industrialisation and commercialisation of innovative processes, technologies and services, to grow a more resilient UK supply chain for REEs.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £25 million in the best game-changing and world-leading ideas, designed for swift, successful commercialisation.
The Innovate UK Smart grant has focused scope and eligibility criteria to support SMEs and their partners in developing genuinely new innovations with significant potential for rapid economic return to the UK. The application process reflects the importance of obtaining economic benefits from public funding, and the potential for successful commercialisation, growth, and exports.
Proposals must be business focused, and show deliverable, realistic, adequately resourced plans to achieve return on investment, growth and market share following project completion.
Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy.
Various
This opportunity aims to accelerate our progress towards the realisation of a just, prosperous, sustainable, and resilient net zero transition by accelerating the exploitation of outputs and outcomes of prior EPSRC-funded research to directly benefit society. We are looking to provide follow-on funding to projects that are ready to move beyond fundamental research but are not yet ready to be taken up as a solution by users. This funding will ‘bridge the gap’, ensuring that the benefits from EPSRC research can be truly realised to drive forward the transition to net zero.
What we will fund This opportunity will award follow-on funding for activities to take a project from the fundamental research stage onto the next level, where it could then be picked up by users. These activities could include, but are not limited to:
The follow-on funding can also be used to enable engagement between researchers and a variety of user communities, including business, third sector, public policy, voluntary and community groups, and the public, to deliver greater benefits from the prior research. The follow-on funding should build on any existing impact activities, taking them in a new direction or engaging new audiences, rather than extending previous or current activities.
The activities must deliver benefits aligned with supporting the transition to net zero.
What we will not fund Applications to this scheme should have a primary focus on the translation of research or knowledge, or both, to the next stage. The following would be ineligible:
Any
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with The Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK), (The Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action), to invest up to £4 million in innovation projects.
The aim of this competition is to enhance UK and German collaborations and capabilities in the emerging fields of technology in our society. This is to develop and deliver new innovations and applications of the technologies across a broad range of sectors.
We want to fund a variety of projects across a range of sectors and technology areas. We particularly encourage applications from the following emerging technology areas:
This list is not exhaustive.
We particularly encourage applications from the following emerging technology areas:
Nature
The aim of this competition is to support collaborative R&D projects that design, develop and manufacture technology. These proposals will work towards delivering net zero on-vehicle technologies for on-road or off-road vehicles, including 2 wheelers.
In this competition, Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to invest up to £25 million in innovation projects.
Your proposal must be a collaborative, pre-production research and development (R&D) project that:
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation and Innosuisse, The Swiss Innovation Authority, will invest up to £4 million from Innovate UK and a minimum of 3 million CHF from Innosuisse in innovation projects.
We encourage innovation in, but not limited to, the following technologies:
The aim of this competition is to enhance UK and Swiss collaborations and capabilities in the emerging fields of technology. The result being, the developing and delivering of new innovations and applications of the technologies across a broad range of other sectors.
Your proposal must comply with the scope and eligibility requirements as stated on this competition summary page, and include a consortium made up of non-linked Swiss and UK partners.
The Green Heat Innovation Support Programme (GHISP) provides grant funding, competitive procurement and other forms of support to help Scottish-based companies or companies looking to invest in Scotland develop innovative products, services or business models that address the challenges of green heating.
This support is for companies of any size that are looking to use existing green heat technology in an innovative way, with a focus on:
This support will be delivered through the following strands:
Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government have developed this fund to encourage innovation activity that will support net zero ambitions in Scotland’s heating sector.
heating
If you’re looking to grow your Scottish manufacturing business through developing low carbon products, processes or services, you can apply for the LCMCF grant.
Your project can use pure Research and Development (R&D), capital investment or environmental aid support in its effort to speed-up the transition to a low carbon economy in manufacturing. There’s a minimum value grant of £150,000 available.
This grant is part of Making Scotland’s Future activity, a programme led by Scottish Government and delivered by a range of partners including Scottish Enterprise, to help Scottish manufacturers grow and thrive.
Manufacturing