Location: Home > Grants > UK and Regional Grant Awards
UK and Regional Grant Awards
UK Grants for Research and Development are designed to help individuals and small and medium-sized businesses research and develop technologically innovative products and processes. The following help is available:
Micro Projects are simple low cost development projects lasting no longer than 12 months. The output should be a simple prototype of a novel or innovative product or process. A grant of up to £20,000 is available to businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
Research Projects typically involve planned research or critical investigation lasting between 6 and 18 months. The result of the project could be new scientific or technical knowledge that may be useful in developing a new product or process. A grant of up to £75,000 is available to businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
Development Projects involve the shaping of industrial research into a pre-production prototype of a technologically innovative product or industrial process. A grant of up to £200,000 is available for businesses with fewer than 250 employees.
Exceptional Projects involve technology developments which have higher costs. These projects are likely to generate much wider economic benefits and must have strategic importance for a technology or industrial sector. A grant of up to £500,000 is available to businesses with fewer than 250 employees.
Regional Authority Grants
The eight Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) were established under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998, and were formally launched in eight English regions on 1 April 1999. The ninth, in London, was established in July 2000 following the establishment of the Greater London Authority (GLA). Responsibility for sponsorship of the RDAs moved from the former Department for the Environment, Transport & the Regions to the DTI in 2001.
Their primary role is as strategic drivers of regional economic development in their region. The RDAs aim to co-ordinate regional economic development and regeneration, enable the regions to improve their relative competitiveness and reduce the imbalance that exists within and between regions.
Under the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998, each Agency has five statutory purposes, which are:
- To further economic development and regeneration
- To promote business efficiency, investment and competitiveness
- To promote employment
- To enhance development and application of skill relevant to employment
- To contribute to sustainable development
The RDAs' agenda includes regeneration, taking forward regional competitiveness, taking the lead on inward investment and, working with regional partners, ensuring the development of a skills action plan to ensure that skills training matches the needs of the labour market
