I joined the Transforming Food Production (TFP) team just over a year ago, after spending five enjoyable years with the KTN Agri-food team. I helped many individual companies on their funding journey, but, while I regularly witnessed SMEs winning the funding ‘battle’ by securing a collaborative R&D project, they only had a chance of winning the funding ‘war’ once they secured private investment.
Growing a team and attracting talent are some of the most difficult challenges that entrepreneurs face. This is something that was no different for me and my business.
It might seem odd to say after working for 15 years in bridging research and innovation collaboration between the UK and China, but I still find this a fascinating space. Anyone familiar with China’s breakneck pace will tell you that …
Are you an SME working in the advanced materials space? Does your work have applications in transport and mobility? Do you want to break into international markets or increase your international collaboration? This could be the right opportunity for your …
This year Innovate UK has teamed up with Coeliac UK to co-fund a competition addressing challenges facing patients with coeliac disease. We are delighted to be collaborating with a charity like Coeliac UK to fund innovative ideas that will not …
In January 2018 the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) programme reached a significant milestone having awarded over £0.5 billion in Research and Development contracts since its inception. These awards, from Public Sector bodies to companies, stimulate the development of new …
Last October, I wrote a blog to introduce our innovation loans. We then travelled around the UK to hold briefing events, before formally launching our £50m pilot programme at Innovate 2017. Our first innovation loans competition, for infrastructure systems first …
The seventh in our series of ‘Essential business tips’ covers recruitment. Putting together the right team can be time-consuming and expensive, but having the ideal mix of skills at your disposal could make the difference between success and failure. These …
Alongside the funding and support we provide to UK SME’s we also produce a range of videos to help a business grow. Here we’ve chosen two videos to help you understand how to promote your business. Building upon your great …
