The Government has launched a new £2m funding competition to find new productivity-boosting technology and management practices.
The money comes from the Business Basics Fund, which is part of the modern Industrial Strategy aimed at boosting UK national productivity. The fund is being delivered alongside Innovate UK and Nesta.
The Government is funding two types of project out of the fund: trials and proof of concept.
Trial projects are aimed at generating robust evidence on the most effective approaches to making SMEs more productive and generating an understanding of the short, medium and long term impacts of the approach. Grant funding of up to £400,000 per project is available.
Proof of concept projects are for ideas at earlier stages of development with grant funding of up to £60,000 per project available.
All project work must be carried out in England and start by 1 September 2019, lasting up to a year. You can be a business of any size and be working alone or in collaboration with other organisations.
The application form can be found here.
The Business Basics Fund is a positive commitment by Government to exploring new ways of boosting economic productivity. The qualification criteria are very broad and we encourage businesses to apply. Grant funding can sit alongside more traditional forms of finance to create a full funding solution and we have lenders that are willing to consider a grant as equivalent to a borrower's own contribution.
If you have ideas that you think will fit with the Business Basics Programme, you are encouraged to contact clair.bowman@beis.gov.uk or natalia.davie@beis.gov.uk in the BEIS Business Basics team. Please also talk to us about your project.